The Darkness Surrounds
by Light Derived from Darkness
Summary: "And he threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he would not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time." - Revelation 20:3 Continuation of the anime series with some manga inclusions, slightly AU where Abel did not leave to pursue Cain. Tres x OC, Abel x Esther.
1. Mission Diverted

Abel sighed in his normal, dramatic fashion; his glasses were already starting to fog up with the humidity in the air, even though it was nightime and the sun had long since set. The atmosphere was practically started to dissolve with instability and the faint sounds of thunder echeod off the darkened buildings around them.

"It figures I finally have time to visit Vienna and it's on an investigation," he bemoaned himself. His stomach growled a bit with hunger so he surrendered another sugar cube to ward it off a bit. "If they keep lowering my ration during these missions of ours I'm going to be the first priest to die purely due to a vow of poverty."

Tres looked at him monotonously. Abel gave him a sheepish smile. "Ah...guess you're not one to empathize with that, hm?"

"Negative. I am not granted a ration in monetary form since I do not require sustanence," Tres replied in his usual even tone.

"That's too bad because I probably would have asked you to share," Abel admitted, a bit frazzled. He readjusted his glasses as it started to rain ever so slightly. "What exactly did Lady Caterina tell you about this mission of ours, Father Tres? She practically shooed me out of her office the moment I got there."

"Our mission is to investigate the strange activity that has been occuring here in Vienna. It is causing unrest in both the human and vampire populations," Tres reported.

"And...what sort of 'strange activity' is she referring to?" Abel asked. "Last time I checked strange things were happening practically everywhere lately..."

"There have been repeated sightings of a creature that cannot be identified as either human nor vampire," Tres added. "It appears to be a female, but that is all that we have been informed of."

"Neither human nor vampire? But...how can anyone know that if they haven't seen her up close?" Abel asked.

"Satellites monitoring the open population have identified that she is neither human nor vampire," Tres said, standing up from where they had been sitting on the steps outside of the local church. "We must initiate the search before the rain potentially dampers her trail. Come Father Nightroad."

With that, Tres began to walk down the road as Abel about tripped over his own feet trying to keep up. He was curious as to what their readings had truly picked up, however. After everything that had happened in the last few months, however, there was little that could surprise any of them anymore.

They walked in silence for a short time before Tres's internal communicator crackled to life, and he paused to listen to it and reply.

"Father Tres, we have just recieved a potential lead on the unknown's whereabouts," Sister Kate's voice came through with a bit of interference.

"I am prepared to receive the information," Tres replied.

"We last recieved the signal from about two miles from your location, in an abandoned industrial district called Weatherdown Heights. It was used almost exclusively before Armageddeon but has been empty for some time now. Her signal is still being transmitted to the Vatican's scanning server as an unidentified being. Please keep in contact with us with whatever you may find."

"Positive. Father Nightroad and I will relay whatever information we can ascertain once we have made contact with the unknown," Tres affirmed, before his communicator shut off. He turned to Abel. "The unknown has been tracked to an abandoned industrial area."

"Well, by all means, lead the way," Abel replied. "My sense of direction isn't nearly as...refined as yours."

Tres nodded, but didn't seem to regard that Abel might not move as swiftly as he did; he suddenly took off at an inhuman pace down the road. Abel yelped as he sprinted to try and keep up, but it was of little use. Tres was gone before he could even make it a hundred metres down the road.

He groaned a bit and panted as he dramatically leaned on his knees. "I'll catch up with you Tres! ...wait, I needed to follow him there because I have no sense of direction..." he shouted, and then whimpered, as the realization finally struck him that he was essentially lost without his android companion.

Nonetheless, he sprinted off in the direction he'd seen him go.

Tres made it to the industral yard in literal moments, though he slowed once he'd reached the edge of the property. His internal scanner started to check for life signals, and almost immediately he could see an infra-red pattern left behind by something that was alive and humanlike. "Signal locked; pursuing..." he reported, arming himself almost immediately with his two guns. They had no way of knowing if this being was hostile or not, and Tres always assumed the former one way or another.

The industrial yard was empty and silent as death. The only sounds that reached his auditory receptors were the sounds of chains rattling in the wind, and his heavy footsteps as he walked along with his guns trained ahead of him. The small red beads of light traced along the dark asphalt as he paused, hearing what sounded like the distant noises of racing footsteps within one of the warehouses. He immediately turned and looked, seeing a figure race by one of the windows.

Tres suddenly crouched down and then leapt up swiftly, easily breaking through the old musty glass and landing gracefully on one knee in the empty room. His eyes immediately scanned for movement, and he saw a small form rushing out of the room. He locked both of his guns on the form quickly, and it froze.

"Halt. Cease and desist escape. You are under investigation of the Vatican for sending out obscured signals to the population control computation system," he reported monotonously as he approached the figure, keeping his guns locked on her.

He heard her whimper a bit, and she turned and looked at him. At first he'd assumed it was a child since she was quite short and frail, but it was actually a young woman. She was to the point of being so malnourished that her form had shrunken slightly and she looked younger than she actually was. She was also dirty and wearing mismatched dark clothing, as though she'd rummaged them from somewhere. Tres, however, was there for answers and not to elicit sympathy for the creature at this moment, though he did lower his firearms when he saw she was fearful and had stopped trying to evade him.

"Answer: Of what race are you?" he demanded of her as he leaned down so he was more level with her. One of his eyes was glowing faintly red as he tried to get a reading on her via his internal database.

But she was too frightened to talk. Tres got almost right up into her face, making her back up even more from him, though she found herself pinned against a wall and unable to distance herself anymore.

"Silence is not an accepted response," Tres said. "Answer: Of what race are you?"

"I...I don't know..." she choked out after a moment. "I...I was hoping to find someone that might...might be able to tell me what I am and...why I was made. I was...looking for this," she said; she reached into her blouse and pulled out what looked like a slightly damaged silver crucifix.

Tres honed right in on that. "That crucifix is a relic of the ancient Vatican. Where did you obtain it?"

"When...when I woke up...it was lying on my chest..." she said, looking down at it quietly, before she held it more firmly in her hand. "There was nothing else around me that...that wasn't in ruin already. I thought if I found out where this came from, I might...know what it is I am."

"Answer: Where is it that you awakened?" Tres asked, standing upright once more. He could tell his presence was intimidating her and he wanted her to calm down enough to give him information.

"I...I can show you..." she said, trying to edge around him. Tres held up one of his guns suddenly so that it was pointed upwards.

"Positive. I will be monitoring your movement. Do not attempt to deviate from showing me the location of your origin, or I will be forced to terminate you," he replied.

She frowned a bit and looked at him a little incredulously. "Aren't you a big charmer..." she sighed, though she turned and led him down one of the corridors. "I can't tell you how long I've been asleep...I only just woke up a few days ago and almost immediately I could tell I was being tracked by someone."

"By whom are you being tracked?" Tres asked.

"You mean besides you?" she replied, cocking an eyebrow at him. She turned back around as she continued. "I...I'm not sure who it was. But it didn't feel like a human or Methusalah either."

Tres narrowed his eyes faintly as this information, but remained silent.

The girl led him into what looked like it had once been a crude, makeshift laboratory that had since been overtaken by plant life and time. There was broken glass and decaying machines all over the place. In the center of the room was what looked like a modified cryogenic chamber with a clear top, which was open. The glass was compromised and cracked badly, as though the girl had had to fight her way out of it.

Tres took in his surroundings in silence; he could see the state of disrepair all of this was in. But if the girl's words were in fact the truth, how had she been kept asleep for this long while the rest of the laboratory had fallen into such rot? He got his answer as he looked closer. The single device that had been left attached to a generator was the girl's chamber, and it looked like it had only recently been severed from its power source by a rodent chewing on it. Once the chamber had failed to sustain her any longer, she had woken up.

"This is where I woke up...it took me hours just to force the lid open," she said. "But the moment I got out I could sense there was something wrong, so...I've stayed hidden here for the last couple weeks."

"Positive. Your malnourishment is consistent with your recollections," Tres replied. "The Vatican will have further questioning required of you. We must relocate you to an infirmary where your health can be evaluated and improved."

The girl suddenly looked at him, startled. "No, no! I can't leave here. It's not safe for me to leave!"

"Answer: Why do you not feel it is safe outside?"

"Because...because I...I don't know why I feel that way..." she said, clenching her fists. Her long dark hair was matted and hung over her shoulders as she shook slightly. "I can...just sense something awful is here. It's like a darkness that hangs over the whole world..."

"Come; I will escort you there. You will be safe," Tres said, offering her his hand.

The girl looked at him with a furrowed brow. "Weren't you the one that was just threatening to shoot my brains out if I tried to run from you?"

"Positive. But my mission has been diverted. The mystery surrounding your creation constitutes making sure that you are healthy enough to be questioned."

"Well isn't that just gentlemanly! You only want to get me help so you can have me interrogated!" she growled. "I'm not going anywhere until I feel like it's safe to."

"Negative. You are coming with me," Tres replied, reaching forward for her arm to make her come with him. The moment that he stepped forward, however, the floor beneath them started to crack.

It was like a cobwebbing effect; a small pressure fissure from his weight caused the entire floor to begin to give way. He could sense it was not mere decay that was causing this, however; his auditory receptors detected a low frequency sound that was disrupting the integrity of the building around them. The girl cried out and staggered as the entire room started to crumble apart around them.

Tres wasted no time; there wasn't any way to escape the room before it collapsed, but his mechanical body would handle whatever trauma it was dealt. The girl, however, likely could not. He quickly seized hold of her and kept her close as the floor suddenly fell away, and they both toppled down into the darkness.

The girl screamed and had no choice but to cling to him closely as they fell; it wasn't only the room they were in that had fallen apart. The entire building seemed to have dissolved into rubble in an instant. Tres couldn't determine what had caused it yet, but he held the girl close nonetheless.

"Do not panic. No matter how far we fall, my body will absorb the impact. Please stay atop me until we have reached the base."

The girl looked at him with fear and surprise. "How can you remain so calm...if you're the one who hits first then you'll be killed!"

"Negative. I am not human and thus am not crippled by the same manner of force as them."

"You...you aren't human either...?" she murmured.

She didn't have time to question him again, however, before Tres suddenly slammed against what looked like a massive pile of stone along the ground. It was so dark that she could barely see, but she could hear the crunch of his form hitting them. The rush of blood she'd been expecting to see, however, was instead replaced with the sound of metal being twisted and wires short-circuiting. The girl gasped as the dust started to clear, and she could see in the dim light his form sprawled out underneath her. Tres's eyes were closed and he appeared to be unconscious, and she could see the wound in his shoulder where some stone had impaled him. There were small electrical misfires coming from around it.

"You...you're an android..." she murmured, though she was met with silence this time.


	2. In the Catacombs

Tres calculated that he had been unconscious for approximately72 minutes by the time his processor was able to reboot. It was dark around them, and he started to crackle back to life. He opened his eyes as his mind clicked back to life. "Levels at 70%. Wounds 80% healed," he spoke monotonously. He started to sit up when he realized that the girl was still slumped against him.

He looked down at her silently; she'd fallen asleep on top of him, waiting for him to wake up. He did not know why she had stayed, since she could have easily used this time to escape, or at the very least distance herself from him. He rested his hand on her shoulder and pulled her away gently.

"Awaken. We must find a way out of these catacombs," he said to her. She stirred slightly and opened her eyes, gasping a bit. He looked like he was barely damaged at all now.

"You...you're okay..." she murmured. She sounded vaguely concerned.

"Positive. I am outfitted with an auto-repair system. That is why I insisted on taking the impact," he replied

"Th...thank you, for saving me...I'm sorry, for getting you into this mess. I didn't realize the structural integrity of that building was so terrible..." she said to him.

"Negative. The building collapsed due to unidentified outside forces. My sensors detected low frequency sounds assaulting the structure from the outside." He stood and set her onto her feet. "You were correct. There is someone looking for you that has ascertained your location. Objective modified: we must get you back to the Vatican for your own safety." He paused and looked down at her directly, and intensely. "Answer: What is your name?"

She paused and looked off to the side. "The side of my chamber said...'OlivAI.' I believe that is my name."

"OlivAI. Name archived," Tres replied.

"And...what is your name?" OlivAI asked him curiously, looking up at him. She was a good head shorter than him.

"My name is Father Tres Iqus, codenamed Gunslinger, deputy enforcer for the Vatican under Lady Caterina, the Duchess of Milan," he informed her.

"Tres...well, it's, uhm...nice to meet you I suppose, even with...regards to everything that's happened," she said, holding out her hand. Tres just looked at it blankly.

"Correct. Our first meeting was tremulous," he replied, and she sweatdropped a bit.

"They didn't program many manners into you did they? It's only polite for you to shake someone's hand when they offer it to you, you know," OlivAI said. "I was asleep for whatever amount of time and even I know that!"

Tres looked down at her hand again, and then grasped it...incredibly hard. He was not accustomed to these kinds of formalities since he was typically only sent out on assault-related missions. She swore she could feel her bones snapping apart inside her hand. She let out a muffled squeal of pain and winced.

"Too hard, too hard! Okay...let's forget the hand shake," she said as he let go. "Let's...just find our way out of here..." she said, stepping off of the rock pile they'd landed in and looking around. "This look like an old catacomb system that runs underneath the city. Eventually there has to be a way back up to the surface."

"Positive. These catacombs have existed under Vienna for centuries. Attempting to retrieve data," Tres said as his processor scanned for information. "Attempt failed. No existing layout maps exist. Communication with surface: also failed."

"Well, I guess we'll just have to find our way out of here on our own," she said softly.

"Positive. I will lead the way, as there are unidentified forces looking for you as well. We must proceed with caution," he said; he pulled out his firearms once more, holding them vertically but prepared to use them if need be. OlivAI scampered behind him and followed close.

The catacombs were dark, winding, and labyrinthine. Most of it had fallen into severe decay, though it was surprisingly desolate nonetheless. Most abandoned areas became the homes of squatters and the homeless, but this place didn't look like it had been touched by anything but age.

OlivAI began to feel uneasy, walking around this place with only the sounds of their footsteps to listen to, and the small, echoing dribbles of water running down through the stones. She walked closer to him and reached up and grabbed onto the back of his black robes to trail along. It was hard to see anyways, so holding onto him made it easier to follow. He did not protest this, though she was forced to keep up with his relatively quick pace.

Eventually she started to feel tired and stumbled, falling into his back as he suddenly halted.

"Sensors indicate that you are in need of rest," Tres said, turning to look back at her. "We will pause to allow you respite. We have been traveling approximately five hours and thirteen minutes without escape. I will determine the best course of action while you rest."

OlivAI nodded and went to try and find somewhere comfortable to sleep. But most of this place was made entirely of stone, and any exposed patches of dirt were no more inviting. The best she could do was try to curl up on a flat slab of rock, but it was cold and unforgiving. She shivered a bit but tried to close her eyes and sleep.

Tres was silent for a short time, staring off into the distance as internally he was processing their situation. Eventually he turned and looked down at her. "You are not resting. Your body temperature is also decreasing rapidly."

"The ground is really cold. This place hasn't seen sunlight in its entire existance," she replied quietly.

"Then there is only one course of action," Tres replied.

OlivAI yelped as he suddenly and wordlessly bent down and picked her up from the ground. He held her bride style in his arms and looked down at her calmly. "You must rest against me. Close proximity to my body will help increase your bodily temperature."

OlivAI looked at him surprised, then blushed a bit. "You really need to work on your wording a bit, but...can't really refuse. You're nice and toasty compared to the ground," she replied, nestling in against him without further argument. His artificial body did give off a nice amount of warmth. She managed to tuck herself for the most part under his black outer cloak to insulate herself.

"I will continue to search for a means of escape while you rest," Tres reported to her as he started to walk slowly, scanning for any means of reaching the surface.

"Sounds good to me. You can probably see better in the dark than me anyways," she replied tiredly.

"Positive. I am equipped with automatic night vision."

"Just a jack of all trades aren't you?"

"I do not know what that means," Tres replied emotionlessly.

"It means you can do a lot of things."

"Positive. I am equipped to do many things."

OlivAI chuckled a bit, resting her head against his chest. "It's funny how even with how flatly you talk, you're still kinda comforting."

Tres did not reply and continued to look foward.

He walked for what felt like another couple hours before his pace started to slow. "System levels are currently at 10%. Recharge necessary," he said. She noticed that his voice sounded a bit less level, probably since he was tired.

"And you were telling me I needed to nap. You needed to just as much as I did," she said with a weary yawn. Tres quietly walked to a stone pillar and sat down on the ground, reclining back against it slightly with his legs crossed on the ground. He continued to hold her in his arms, though he allowed her to sit on his thigh, keeping one arm around her for warmth.

"We will both rest," he said, shutting his eyes.

"Mm, still sounds good to me," she said softly, resting against him.

She slept sporatically for a short while, but eventually gave up. The catacombs were just too quiet and desolate for her to feel truly comfortable. She heard the small patter of rats scurrying about though and yelped, drawing closer to him. Tres's eyes opened slightly.

"Answer: Are you all right?" he asked.

"I'm fine, just...just nervous..." she admitted. "I mean...what if we find our way out of here and whatever else was looking for me takes me from you?" Her voice was shaking a little bit at the thought. She didn't even know what they were, those that were looking for her, but it didn't matter. It was still a frightening thought. "They could even be underground here with us searching for us right now...if they didn't find our bodies in the rubble they could only assume that we escaped and are looking for us..." she started to sound more panicked. They were all alone down here, and though she assumed that Father Tres hadn't come all this way alone to find her, they were cut off from the rest of the world right now.

She quieted down when he suddenly rested his forehead down against hers, pressing them together with a strange firmness. It was odd, but...he seemed like he was trying to comfort her in doing so. She looked into his eyes with hers slightly wet with tears.

"It will be all right. I promise you that I will get you to the Vatican safely," he said to her. His voice was still flat and level, like always...but there was something very genuine about it. She paused and looked at him softly for a moment.

"You...you promise?" she asked him softly.

"I promise on my position as a Father of the Vatican," he said to her. "Now I must request that you get some rest OlivAI. You are already underweight and appear to be slightly ill because of your captivity; your bodily temperature continues to rise and fall without external cause. I do not want your life endangered further."

All she could really do was nod and nestle against him again. This time he rested both his arms around her and held her close. "Answer: are you warm enough in this position?" he asked her as he stared off into the shadows, before his own eyes slowly and methodically began to close.

"More than enough..." she said softly, right before she finally did fall asleep, for real this time.

"Recharge complete. Function is now restored to 100%," Tres murmured as his processor came back online. His internal drive told him he'd been asleep for approximately one hour and twenty-seven minutes.

He immediately knew that OlivAI was gone; he couldn't feel her asleep against him. He stood and looked around, scanning the darkness.

"Answer: Where are you located, OlivAI?" he half-shouted into the shadows.

"I'm over here, sorry...I...I needed to relieve myself..." he heard her shy voice from behind some rubble.

"Apologies. I did not mean to disturb you," he replied, keeping his gaze transfixed away from her so he did not see anything indecent.

OlivAI came out from behind the fallen structure and smiled to him a bit wearily. "So, shall we continue looking?"

"Positive. We must find a way out of here soon," he replied, holding out his hand to her again. She gave him an attempt at a more cheerful grin despite her harried appearence and took his hand.

The moment she touched him, however, he suddenly sensed something amiss. The sounds of the animals that had accompanied them down there had been silenced as though the rats and other creatures had fled. He suddenly yanked OlivAI close to himself and scanned around, his expression contorting ever so slightly into a more aggressive expression.

"We are being suveyed. We must flee," he said to her, before he suddenly took off rapidly into the darkness.

OlivAI suddenly felt afraid; if there were something nearby that made him this cautious, she felt she had reason to fear. She could feel him press into her back a bit in a comforting gesture. "Do not be afraid. I will protect you OlivAI."

"I know that you will," she said, though she still buried her face in against the black cloth of his cloak nonetheless. She felt a bit odd trusting him so much when she had just met him a few hours before, but his intense mindset brought some peace of mind to herself.

He finally paused in the middle of a large ancient amphitheater that had been left to decay centuries upon centuries ago. He paused to regain their status when suddenly his vision shot up to the being standing on a pillar overlooking them. His eyes narrowed substantially when he realized who it was. OlivAI looked up at the figure incredulously; it was hard to see in the darkness, but it looked like a young man with long blond hair.

"It's not everyday that I come out of hiding to make a personal appearence..." the man smiled down at them eerily, almost innocently. "But in this case, I wanted to see her for myself..."


	3. The Promise

"Who...who is that...?" OlivAI asked, her voice shaking a bit; in fact her whole form was quivering in his arms as she looked up at the being standing over them. He was tall, taller than Tres, and had long blonde hair that hung far down his back. She didn't recognize any of the emblems on his garments.

"Identified as Cain Knightlord. Other aliases include Contra Mundi and Krusnik 01. Leader of the terrorist group known as the Rosencreutz Orden. He is an artificially created human injected with super-enpowered DNA that makes him predator to both humans and vampires..." Tres answered her; she couldn't help but notice that his voice held the faintest trace of venom in it as he informed her of this.

Cain just smirked down at him. "Very good. You seem to remember me Father Tres, a shame our last encounter was so brief, however. I didn't have time to make certain that you were effectively offline. I think I'll correct that now...unless, of course, you wish to simply hand the girl over to me. Then there will be no cause for bloodshed," he replied with a falsely innocent gaze, holding out his hand as though asking to borrow a simple object.

"Negative," Tres replied, holding OlivAI away from him. "She is in my protective custody and must be taken back to the Vatican safely. Your objective for her will involve nothing but torture, Knightlord." The mention of torture made OlivAI gasp softly.

Cain simply gave them another eerie expression before his form suddenly vanished from atop the pillar, reappearing almost instantly in front of them. OlivAI couldn't even fathom the speed at which he moved. "How very astute of you, though I have much bigger plans for her than simple torture, android..." he said. He suddenly gripped Tres by his shoulder armor, literally tearing OlivAI out of his arms before he jettisoned Tres into a far pile of debris with ease, despite his heavy stature. OlivAI cringed, hearing Tres impact the stones harshly.

"No, Father Tres!" OlivAI cried out in terror; she couldn't see him any longer in the shadows and felt her heart sink.

"Oh please, that brainless machine won't be able to tell you what you wish to know about yourself..." Cain said to her as he held onto her arm oppressively, his nails cutting into her skin a bit. "I, however, have known about you my dear for the last nine hundred years...I knew it was only a matter of time before you would woke up, and then I'd simply need to be there to wisk you away. But then he interfered..."

Tres managed to push himself up and out of the pile of rubble; he was slightly damaged, but it was thankfully minimal. He really could take a lot of abuse as he'd said he could.

"OlivAI, you have far more purpose in this world than being on display for the Vatican," Cain said, looking down at her. "I can show you that purpose if you desire..."

"OlivAI, do not listen to him. Cain Knightlord is a known manipulator and mass murderer. The organization that he leads has killed thousands of innocent peoples, perhaps more if tallied throughout the centuries. I cannot promise that the Vatican will know of your past, but I will uphold my promise to keep you safe," Tres said to her. His tone was still even, but slightly more urgent now.

OlivAI looked between them, before she tried to pull free from Cain. "Let go of me! I don't want to go with you...!"

Cain just grinned, and suddenly stabbed his hand directly through her shoulder. Blood and torn flesh suddenly seemed to move through the air in front of her in slow motion. It was not a lethal blow, a few inches from her heart...but the _pain_. The pain immediately traveled throughout her body and overtook her. She let out a sharp scream of anguish as he pulled his hand free from her, still gripping her with his other hand as she crumpled forward.

Tres immediately lunged at him the second that he heard OlivAI scream, and saw all of the blood. He knew from the past that no matter his aim, his guns would not help him against Cain Knightlord. He had no choice but to attempt to attack him directly.

Cain, however, was still far swifter and stronger than he was. He reached out and gripped Tres by his throat, holding him easily in the air. Tres's expression remained monotone, even as Cain's grip started to rupture some of the circuitry in his neck.

"I know that you don't need to breathe android, but eventually I'll sever right through your spinal column...and you'll be dead," Cain said to him; his voice was so creepily innocent, almost like a sadistic child talking.

"No, please, Cain! Please don't hurt him...I beg you. I'll go with you quietly, just please...please do not harm him further..." OlivAI cried out, even as blood was running down her front.

Cain looked down at her silently, then released Tres from his grip. He suddenly smiled. "Submission suits you well, OlivAI..." he purred to her cruelly, stroking his thumb along her chin as she winced and pulled away. "Say your goodbyes quickly."

Tres was slumped back against some of the stones once more; he was damaged at his neck and down his spine from the earlier blow, and OlivAI could tell that anymore of this conflict and he could have so easily died. She got down and crawled up to him, smoothing some of his hair out of his face.

"Tres...just stay here, okay? No more trying to get me back from him...he's too strong. He'll kill you if you do and I couldn't bear that," she said to him gently.

Tres looked down at her. "I must fulfill my promise..."

"No! I want you to promise me instead that you'll heal yourself and get help on the surface..." she said to him. "It's the only way, right now...I'm sorry. I know in your mind there's always an immediate course of action, but this time...this time there isn't. I know you want to keep your promise to me, Tres...but I can't let you die. Not after the way you protected me earlier when we fell down here. I'd have probably died if it hadn't been with you."

"OlivAI..." he began to speak once more, but she held a finger to his lips to quiet him, which seemed to emote a slight glimmer of surprise on his part.

"No, Tres...no more arguing with me. Just get yourself better and get help, okay? Promise me..." she said to him gently.

Tres was quiet for a moment. "Positive. I promise to do as you wish, OlivAI."

OlivAI smiled a bit. "Good...I'll see you again soon, I promise. Thank you for protecting me, Tres," she said to him softly. She then leaned in and gently pressed a kiss to his cheek.

Tres looked to her with an ever so faint look of shock, but he calmed, and closed his eyes, seeming to enjoy the sensation. He'd never been kissed, before. In fact he couldn't remember the last time he'd been shown physical affection. Her lips felt so warm on his cheek. It made no sense logically for her to show him this intimate a gesture for simply following his program, and yet...he did not protest it.

She heard him make a very faint, deep sound to show his contentment, and smiled at him as she parted from him.

Cain, however, grew weary of their display and suddenly drew OlivAI back to him with an impatient growl. He wrapped an arm around her in a similar fashion to how Tres had held her to keep her warm in the catacombs.

"Do not worry, Father...I will take excellent care of her..." he chided, before he suddenly vanished with her in his grip.

Tres glared at the fading afterglow of Cain and OlivAI's image before him, but it was only another moment before he was forced to power down and heal himself once more.

"Father Tres! Father Tres, please respond if you can hear me..."

Abel's voice sounded at first like it were a hundred miles away, but it became clearer as he continued to speak with him. He could feel him shaking his shoulders a bit, trying to wake him. Tres's optical function returned.

"Father Abel, we must make haste. OlivAI is in grave danger," Tres reported to him swiftly.

"OlivAI...?" Abel echoed him. "Is she the one that we were here looking for?"

"Positive. I located her in the industrial district, but the building was collapsed beneath us and we became cut off from the surface. As I searched for a way out, we were ambushed."

"Ambushed...all the way down here? By whom?" Abel asked incredulously.

"By your brother, Cain Knightlord."

Abel's eyes widened substantially, then narrowed with a potent hate festering within them. "Where did he take her? Do you know why he sought her himself?" From what he'd seen, Cain tended to allow others to do his dirty work, both willingly and unintentionally. The fact that he'd come all the way here just to take the girl personally made him worry all the more about his motives.

"Negative. I was not able to ascertain the girl's origins, only that she is an artificially created being of some form," Tres responded. "Cain Knightlord alluded to knowing of her. He attempted to have her come with him compliantly with that information. When she refused, he kidnapped her using traumatic force."

Abel looked around; traces of his brother's scent were still in the air, but he was obviously long gone now. He winced when he saw the girl's blood on the ground, dried to a near black hue against the stone.

"We need to get back to the Vatican and find out why he took her. Now that we at least know the location of where she was created, maybe we can find some of the answers in the church's archives."

"Positive. We must make haste. I gave her my promise that I would bring her help," Tres said, looking at Abel intently.

Abel nodded. "There's a passage to the surface not far from here, follow me," he said, taking off into a sprint with Tres shadowing just behind him.


	4. Et est raptus OlivAI

OlivAI groaned a bit as she woke up, though her head was pounding so badly that she wished she were still asleep or unconscious. Her face was pressed against a cold surface of some sort, and when she propped herself up slightly, she realized it was marble. She also realized as well that her wound was bandaged, but blood had already seeped through some of the pale gauze tied around it. It still hurt deeply, but she tried to push the pain aside.

Her ears immediately picked up the sound of water stirring and she looked to the side to see what looked like a large cistern-fashion bathing area. The water had a pale emerald tint to it and emitted a strange and potent fragrance that made her feel a bit light-headed. She realized quickly, however, that the sounds of the water stirring were being caused by a waterfall flowing into it, and someone sitting at the far end of the pool.

"Well, I was wondering when you were going to awaken," Cain said to her with that same sickening and falsely sweet smile he'd given her down in the catacombs. "You blacked out on the journey here. You must be quite tired and cold."

OlivAI suddenly reddened and shut her eyes tightly when she realized he was nude, though he was half submerged in the water and reclining against the wall, so she couldn't see anything. "You pervert. Why did you bring me in here? I'd have rather been placed in a cell."

Cain chuckled, resting his cheek on the knuckles of one of his hands as he looked across at her. "I forgot how innocent you are. You've probably never even seen yourself naked, have you?"

"What sort of sick question is that?!" she spat back at him, still keeping her eyes closed. She heard him laugh a bit at her again. "Why did you bring me here?! Why did you wait until the Vatican came to find me to attack?!"

"So demanding...but I suppose it's only fair to tell you why you are here..." she heard him shift closer to her, though she just nudged backwards slightly across the floor, wanting to be nowhere near him. "I actually didn't know of your awakening until today, OlivAI. It was actually sheer coincidence that that robotic priest found you just before I reached you. Tell me...what do you know about the races of this planet?"

"The races...? There...there are humans and vampires...or, terrans and methuselah depending on whom you ask..." she replied. Though the knowledge felt...ancient? Archaic? Like she'd known it before she was asleep, and still did, even though the terms were not connected to any direct memories. It was strange, like remembering the words of a childhood storybook but none of the illustrations. It created an uneasiness in her.

"And you already know that you are neither of them, correct?"

She pursed her lips slightly. "From what I could tell I was created artificially. Are you implying that I'm an android like Father Tres or something?"

Cain laughed a bit more heartily. "No no...nothing like that. But most people do not know that there is in fact a third race that exists beyond those two. There are only three of us...or at least, that was what I believed. We are called the Krusnik. You have heard that term before...Father Tres said it down in the catacombs."

"Yes, and it sounded bestial..." she winced.

"The Krusnik genetic is both a blessing and a curse...in order for me to reach the power that I have, I sacrificed my personality and memories to it. That is why I am feared; most believe that I have gone completely insane."

"I'm starting to very easily see why..." she retorted.

"You have a sharp little tongue don't you? Before you ask me, no...you are not a Krusnik. But unlike all humans and methuselah in this world, you have the potential to be."

"The...the potential? Why do I have it?" she stammered.

"Because you were made for the same purpose that I and the other three Krusniks were created...we were artificially constructed by humans and sent to the Mars Colonization project to see if life was possible on the red planet of our solar system, because of population controls and warfare slowly engulfing the earth. But when we arrived there, we were all injected at different times with a genetic modifier known as the Krusnik that instilled us with this power. This was also when the Methuselah were created as well, in far greater numbers, but the Krusnik also emerged as a result of this are three of us left; myself, my brother Abel and my sister Seth."

"And the fourth that you mentioned...?"

OlivAI winced as it felt like the entire demeanor of the room changed. Cain's calm demeanor vanished for a second. "I do not speak of her..." he hissed, his voice suddenly sounding downright demonic. OlivAI let out a sigh of relief as she felt the atmosphere calm after a moment.

"Touchy subject I see..." she murmured. "But you said that I was created for the same mission that you and the other three were made for...does that mean that I am an artificially created human?"

"Yes, which means that your genetics are far more stable and enhanced than a normal human's would be, and as I said, you are perhaps the only one in this world right now who could become another one of us. Your enhancements appear to be recessive, which is why you were forced to rely so much on the android to find your way around underground, but they were there nonetheless. I'm not entirely sure why you were created but never used; my assumption is that the ancient Vatican had you formed in order send along a representative of their religion, but it never came to fruition, and you were left to essentially rot. I always knew all along that others like us were created, but most deteriorated and died in their sleep. Imagine my delight when my systems detected you when you awoke. Now we will have another like us, in this world of imperfect worms." His voice was making her skin crawl.

"So is that your grand scheme? To turn me into the same kind of freak of nature that you are?" she retorted angrily.

Cain was silent, but she could hear him suddenly exiting the water a few feet from her and the sound of his heavy wet footsteps against the marble.

"It is only part of it..."

She froze when she could hear his voice almost directly above her, and knew that he was standing right over her. She could feel the warm droplets of water tapping against her own skin. "You see, I have worked eons now slowly causing instability in this world so that it can be cleansed eventually, and a fresh start for it can take place. The war between the two races is an endeavor that will result in the same outcome, so I am simply speeding up the process. But the fact remains; our own race is soon to be only four even if you are added to it. If we are to become the true elite race that we are, we must increase our numbers."

OlivAI didn't like the direction that this conversation was going in, but before she could draw away from him further, she suddenly felt his hand clamp around her throat. She let out a strangled yelp as he pulled her up and off of the ground. She was so much shorter than him that her feet were dangling nearly two feet above the floor as he held her level with him. She didn't have much choice but to open her eyes then, only to see his looking directly into her piercingly.

"The thing about us is that we are flawlessly fertile. Most modified creatures are created or born sterile, but not us. Before I set you free to test yourself, I will bless you with our superior genetics, OlivAI...and before that, I have another task for you. If it is any comfort, you do not need to be awake for this, and I am more than certain that you will not want to be..." he smiled to her, stroking her cheek with his thumb even as she coughed and sputtered trying to get air. His grip on her throat increased severely.

"What...what are you going to do to me...?" she whimpered.

He chuckled a bit and closed his eyes with a smile. "I suggest when you do finally reach the Vatican soon enough, you look through their Holy book to the story of Adam and Eve...that will shed some light on it for you," he said.

She didn't know what he was referring to, but it didn't matter; she passed out only a few seconds after he quieted. Little did she know that unconsciousness now really would be a blessing for her.

Abel and Tres poured over their contents of the Vatican's missionary projects throughout the last few centuries, looking for anything that might pinpoint why OlivAI had woken up there with that crucifix on her. The cross itself, from what Tres could tell, was from centuries ago, so Abel had a hunch that maybe they were looking into records that were too current.

"Negative. 97% of records dating beyond five centuries ago have been lost," Tres reported to him.

"Wh-what?! But that's our only lead Tres...!" Abel replied in his usual dramatic manner. "How could the Vatican have possibly lost that many documents?"

"When the capital was renovated, a fire was started in the archive library by anarchists that destroyed many important files. There are no other copies of them anywhere," he replied, looking at Abel flatly. "The only other possible resource is the Book of Ages."

Abel furrowed his brow and pushed up on his glasses. "The Book of Ages is not accessible to us, Tres...that is the Vatican's personally inscribed history of the world from centuries even before Armageddon. I doubt even His Holiness has access to it even though he is the Pope..."

"Positive. The Book of Ages is currently in a secured vault beneath the throne room of the Pope's citadel. We must put in a request to see it due to urgent circumstances."

Abel about fell to the floor, awestruck. "A request, Tres? I know that you believe that everything moves at a quick pace around here, but bureaucracy does not. By the time we'd be allowed in the same room as that book we'd be skeletons."

Tres seemed to take what he said to heart, or...rather, into his mind, and nodded, staring off into space. "Can we not request for a trusted scribe to look up the information we need, then? The Book of Ages is updated every seven days of any significant events that occurred by two individuals, one each of Lady Caterina's and Cardinal Francesco's staff."

"I...I suppose at the very worst Lady Caterina will simply say it can't be done..." Abel said thoughtfully. "Still though, the answer might not even be in there if this was done in secret."

"Correct, but...it is our only lead as of right now, Father Nightroad."

"Absolutely not," Lady Caterina barked at them sternly. Abel winced childishly when she raised her tone at them, though Tres continued to look at her emotionlessly.

"Lady Caterina, I realize that this is a very large favor to ask-"

"It is not a favor, Father Nightroad, it is an impossibility. The records that are kept in the Book of Ages are purely for the Vatican to preserve the world's history. They are flawlessly kept and their location is heavily guarded. Even I would have trouble looking at it if I so wanted to. It can only be done with both permission from myself and my brother, and I'm sure you know how willing he'd be to allow you to," she responded in a commanding tone.

"Lady Caterina," Tres implored her. "We are both informed that this is a taboo request on our part as priests. We have been left with no other option. OlivAI's awakening may be a harbinger of something else to come, and her life is in grave danger. We have no other access to any other information dating back beyond five hundred years from today, and OlivAI's creation predates that. If we cannot know of her creation then she will likely remain in the Rosencreutz Orden's custody."

Lady Caterina paused and looked at Tres sharply, but after a moment of looking back and forth at the two of them, her expression softened ever so slightly. "I know that you two are out of options in this case. I will try, but I cannot promise anything."

"So, Father Leon...what do you think Abel's reaction will be when he learns that the Vatican has invited Queen Esther to come and negotiate further trade between the two principalities a few days' time?" the Professor asked his comrade with a wry smirk as he smoked his pipe. Their nights patrolling around the city outside the citadel were usually filled with meaningless conversations, but he had a humored glint in his eye.

"Tch, probably stutter like a shy idiot and fall on his ass like usual," Father Leon replied gruffly as he chewed on a toothpick. "If he thinks for one damn minute he's hiding his feelings at all for her, then he thinks were all way bigger idiots than we are."

"I'm tempted to agree with you," the Professor nodded. "Though Abel needs to watch where he treads in that area. Even if you overlook the fact that Esther is royalty, whose blood will likely be kept pure by her counsel, he underwent a vow of chastity when he joined the priesthood."

"Pfft. I'd be surprised if Abel even knew what sex is," Father Leon quipped, causing the Professor to wince.

"There's no need for talk like that..." he chuckled.

"Hey, it's a valid point. Abel might be a Krusnik, but there are elements of his personality where he still acts like a damned kid himself."

The Professor smiled a bit warily. "Maybe not as much as you think..." he murmured so his companion couldn't hear him. He'd noticed how inwardly miserable Abel had been ever since Esther had ascended the throne hastily to keep Albion from falling to the riots that the Rosencreutz Orden had orchestrated those paltry two months ago. He really did wonder, however, how Abel would react when he heard the news.

Father Leon spit out his toothpick and nearly stumbled flat onto his face when his foot caught onto something lying across the pathway. "Tha hell...? You'd think that people could leave their refuse somewhere a little less tasteless," he said. He reached down and removed the cloth covering it from the ground.

Both of them were frozen with absolute shock for a second. "Our Holy Mother..." Father Leon gasped.

The girl was unconscious and unmoving, and completely nude. She had blood all down her back from various gashes along her shoulders, as well as a several dried streaks of blood trailing down her thigh. The wounds looked old and hadn't been bandaged, so they were starting to become infected and raw. Her hair was matted and bloodied as well, stuck against her skin.

"Go and get help, now!" the Professor shouted at Leon swiftly, looking at the victim more closely. "This girl is alive..." he murmured, kneeling down beside her and lifting her light form up so her head was against his lap. She felt like she was nothing but skin and bones, and her pale skin told him immediately that she had lost a lot of blood, as well as probably hadn't ingested anything in days. Father Leon immediately went and ran back for the citadel.

The girl's eyes opened and she looked up at the Professor, though his form was so blurred she didn't know what she was looking at, nor where she was. Her breathing was sporatic and disorganized, likely due to shock.

"It's going to be all right, aid is on the way for you child..." he said, to console her. He rested a hand on her forehead and rubbed it gently to soothe her.

It was all she heard before she passed out once more.


	5. Dark Design

Lady Caterina's eyes were closed for a moment; she felt that the darkness of her own mind sometimes gave her the moment of clarity she needed to truly think. When she opened them, she was met with the gazes of her full AX staff awaiting her orders.

"This situation has taken a very dark turn..." she said, her own tone grave. "Father Tres, you are certain that this is the same girl that you located in Vienna one week ago?" She looked down at a small holographic image of the girl, resting soundly in the infirmary. Her wounds had been patched and stitched, and there were two doctors present with her, checking her condition and administering medication to combat the raging infections she was suffering from.

"Positive," Tres reported to her, though his eyes had not yet left the hologram on her desk. Abel was staring at her as well, but with a soft and pitying gaze at her condition.  
>"It would appear as though she were kept unconscious during almost all of her captivity..." Caterina said. "The wounds on her body appear to be old, as though they have been there for some time. The fact that she is still alive is a miracle only our Holy Father could have granted," she sighed, a twinge of sorrow mingled in it.<p>

Sister Kate's holographic image suddenly appeared beside her brothers. "Lady Caterina...I...I have just been given the physician's official report on her condition."

"Please proceed," Lady Caterina replied.

"The gashes on her were mostly superficial, though she has lost quite a bit of blood, and it was made worse by her being very frail physically. She also had what looks like an injection mark on her inner right arm that they have properly medicated and bandaged. They also said..." Sister Kate's gaze saddened and lowered slightly.

"Yes...?" Lady Caterina asked, though she felt uneasy.

"The doctors have also informed me that she has suffered severe trauma of a sexual nature, Lady Caterina..." Even Kate's normally calm voice quivered slightly.

An eerie and heavy silence hung in the room around them. Abel gasped, looking horrified and sickened before his gaze looked down at the girl once more. She was an innocent...and he knew exactly who had done it. He clenched his fists so hard that his own blood started to seep into the white fabric of his gloves faintly

Tres even had a faint expression of shock on his face, but he did not look from the hologram of the infirmary even upon hearing this.

Lady Caterina's eyes narrowed. "That demon..." she spat, as though his name weren't fit for her to say out loud. Rape was a crime even held as capital offense among the Methuselah, even though vampires in ancient times had been closely associated with sexual trauma and seduction. But in this current age, it was a crime considered so taboo that it carried an immediate death penalty in the Vatican's jurisdiction, and likely most anywhere else. Only the sickest of the dark masses in the world resorted to it as a means of torture, though Lady Caterina's mind was already considering the other reasons for why this girl had suffered so horribly. It made her blood boil heavily, especially when it had happened to a victim who was so innocent.

"She has awakened twice now for brief periods of time, but...she will not respond to any questioning. The doctors are not certain yet if she is physically unable to speak, or...is too traumatized to do so."

"It will likely take time for us to receive any information from her..." Father Havel said. "We must not push her, however; in her state she will likely feel immensely vulnerable..."

"Lady Caterina," Tres suddenly regarded her, looking up from the hologram sharply. "I request permission to stand guard at OlivAI's side."

Lady Caterina paused. "Why do you make this request Father Tres?"

"I have failed to protect OlivAI from danger once. Failure is not an option again," Tres said simply.

"Permission is granted. I don't want her being recaptured. It's evident that she was left here on purpose but we can't rule out the possibility that they will come back for her," Lady Caterina replied.

"It was definitely done with purpose...they left her right in the middle of our patrol route..." Abel said softly, almost as though he were more talking to himself. "They knew we would be the first to find her."

Tres turned wordlessly and left the room, heading for the infirmary.

Sister Kate's holographic form turned to face her leader once more. "Lady Caterina...I'm afraid that news of all of this has reached your brother, Cardinal Francesco...he is demanding a counsel with you as soon as you are able."

Lady Caterina's eyes narrowed further, and she remained silent.

OlivAI released a small groan of pain as her eyes slowly opened. For a quick second the adrenaline of being awake and unaware almost made her leap out of the bed, but she found she did not have the energy for any such feat. Her eyes instead scanned the room until they fell upon Father Tres sitting beside her, staring intently at the single entranceway into the room as though daring someone to try and come in here unannounced.

"Tres...?" she asked softly. Her voice cracked with dryness. Tres's gaze shifted so he was looking down at her, and she noticed that it softened ever so slightly.

"OlivAI, you must rest and regain your strength..." he said to her softly. "I will not leave your side until you are fully recovered. I failed in my promise to help you in time."

"Tres, you did everything you could...I don't even know still where Cain took me..." she said weakly, cringing as she felt a twinge of pain from her arm. There was a bandage over the inner part of her elbow joint that was not from an IV.

"Negative..." he replied, but she reached out and took his hand quietly, which caused him to pause.

"You shouldn't...be so hard on yourself, Tres. You did everything that you could," she said gently. "Are...are you here to question me as well?"

"Negative. I am here solely to protect you. Questioning will come when you are fully recovered and feel you can give information, and not before," he said sternly.

She nodded a bit, and let out a small sigh. She did feel relieved at least that she was somewhere safe, for now.

"Now that you are conscious, you must take in some nourishment and fluids..." Tres said to her, again with a stern tone of voice, as he stood, letting go of her hand to retrieve a tray from the end of her bed. It held a large glass of cool water and some various food that had been cut into small portions for her.

"I don't believe I can eat right now, Tres...my stomach is unsettled..." she replied smally.

"Then you must at least drink. You are very weak and must be strengthened," he insisted, taking the glass from the tray. "Since you are weary, I will aid you in consuming this."

OlivAI half expected him with his literal nature to either carefully dump the water onto her or try to insert it into her IV, but...instead, he came to her side and sat down, gently placing his free hand behind her head as he brought the glass to her lips so she could drink. His touch was very tender. The water tasted far more heavenly then she'd imagined it would; she had no idea her mouth and throat were so dry until it reached it.

She let out a relaxed sigh and smiled to him sweetly. "You're so gentle..." she said.

He was quiet, looking at her with a sort of intense look that she wasn't sure how to gauge. "Tres...may I ask you something?"

Tres nodded to her. "You have my permission to ask whatever you wish."

"How...how were you created?" she asked him quietly; her voice was so small it was almost inaudible, though with his enhanced senses he could still hear her quite clearly. "I know it's an odd question to ask in the midst of all of this, but...you and I, we were both made in abnormal circumstances..."

Tres looked off at the far wall as though he were gathering all of the data he needed to tell her. "I was created by a Vatican scientist named Gepetto Garibaldi; he was estranged from the organization and created myself and nine other androids as a means to rebel against it. We were called "Killing Dolls" back then and were subject to his orders. I was the third created, and the last that still exists. Father Nightroad was the one called to repress the rebellion, and was forced to destroy my nine 'sibling' machines. But when I attacked him, he subdued me...and Lady Caterina spared my life. In return, my allegiance will always be to her," he explained to her. "Ever since that time, I've been regarded as an abomination because of my origin, but my duties to the Vatican come first and foremost."

"That's so horrible..." OlivAI said sadly.

"Positive...Dr. Garibaldi was a madman..." Tres agreed quietly.

"No, well...kind of, I mean yes...he was a madman it sounds like, but...I was referring to your comment that you're been regarded as an abomination because you are an android. I think that's entirely unfair. You're anything but that," she said softly. "True when we first came into contact with each other you were a bit...er, uptight, but...you were the first person ever to be kind to me, Tres. I think that underneath the violent instincts that were programmed into you, you're very sweet..."

Tres paused, and looked down at her firmly, as though he were trying to ascertain if she meant what she said, or simply said it to console him. Her weary sunken eyes looked back up at him genuinely, however.

Tres shifted a bit so that he was leaning over her a little bit, then lowered his head down, and placed a small kiss to her forehead, mimicking the soft kiss she'd given him before Cain had taken her away. That kiss still lingered a bit on his cheek; he could not forget how warm it had made him feel, even through all of the circuitry in him.

OlivAI gasped a bit when he did that, but smiled a little and blushed, and rested a hand on his cheek as he pulled back slightly to sit upright.

"Promise me you'll stay here with me?"

"I will not leave your side," he replied, taking her hand in his and holding it loosely on his thigh as she started to fall back asleep.

"When I wake up…" she said softly to him, as she started to doze off. "I'll tell you everything that I remember…"


	6. Inpromptu

(Soul93, thanks for the reviews! :) Hope you enjoy these future parts, OlivAI might be a heavy character in this first storyline to get her established but I promise she'll blend more into the background with time. This fanfic has been a lot of fun to write though, so I really hope you like what's to come!)

Lady Caterina stood from her desk to head to the throne room, though she glimpsed one more time at the holographic image frozen on her desk. It was paused on the instant that Tres had placed that small kiss on OlivAI's forehead. She furrowed her brow with worry once more before she started to walk down the corridor to bring along with what members she needed present for this meeting.

It had been two days now since OlivAI had been brought here, and she had managed to recover for the most part, though she was still underweight and fairly weak. It would take more recovery time to get the girl in full health once more. But she'd stalled her brother for long enough now, and he was threatening to take custody of the girl using the Inquisition if she did not comply. The last thing she needed was more internal conflict. It pained her to make the girl be a part of an interrogation after what she'd been through, but she knew that putting this off further was only going to cause more problems.

A new problem had already arisen as well; further testing had come back positive, indicating that OlivAI was indeed pregnant with that monster's child. Their advanced medical technology was able to detect a conceived child almost instantly, although the common people didn't have access to it. In privacy, Abel had come to her later on to confide that he believed that had been Cain's intention, so Caterina had secretly ordered the girl's blood to be tested. Technology had made it possible for them to detect even the most subtle changes in hormone levels when it came to pregnancy. This left an entire area of shadow with regard to their knowledge of the Krusniks. She had told them everything that Cain had said to her before she had blacked out, and his intentions seemed to have been slowly coming to fruition, with them just witnessing the very start of it. He had injected her with the modified Krusnik genetic material to activate it within her, though she didn't show any signs of it yet. And he had also gotten her pregnant as well, which he had alluded to being his intention before she had lost consciousness. Both of these things had come against her will, and Lady Caterina could see the helpless in OlivAI's eyes. It was a terrible injustice, everything that she had suffered, and she'd only been awake for less than two weeks now.

Cardinal Francesco already knew all of this, of course. No matter how much she tried to keep her brother out of her affairs, he somehow found a way to know almost every detail about what was happening. She already had an inkling of what he was planning to do to interfere with all of this, but all she could do was wait to see how it played out.

Tres hadn't left OlivAI once since he'd become her bodyguard after her return to them. That kiss troubled Carterina, however; she had thought Tres unable to understand nor transmit affection to others. Had she been wrong about him all this time? It was insignificant compared to what was going on right now, but still something that weighed on her mind a bit. Of course, by now all of them were aware of OlivAI's condition; her agents seemed protective and were gathered in a formation around the girl when she approached.

They were waiting for her out in the hallway, with OlivAI at Tres's side in the midst of them. He had his arm wrapped around her protectively and was helping to keep her steady since she was not stable on her feet entirely, and was wearing a portable IV that was there to keep her fluids stable. The poor thing looked afraid, but it seemed like she was trying to keep it under wraps. She was wearing a simple white dress that they'd managed to rummage for her. It was actually an old article of Caterina's clothing from when she had been an adolescent.

Caterina stood in front of OlivAI and smiled faintly at her as reassuringly as possible. "There is no need to be afraid OlivAI, just tell everyone the truth and we will know where to go from there. I will not allow the Cardinal to do anything to jeopardize you or your future child, do you understand?"

"Yes my Lady..." OlivAI responded, bowing to her slightly out of respect.

With that, they began their small procession towards the throne room. For her reassurance, however, she felt her own small pang of worry deep within herself. Abel seemed to sense this as well, and walked just slightly behind her.

"I worry what your brother has in mind for demanding this meeting so swiftly," he admitted to her.

"My brother and I have opposing views, we all know this...but even I cannot always predict what he is up to. All that we can do is hope that he will allow us more time to determine what we should do with OlivAI and her future child."

"I only hope that you're right..." Abel sighed, hanging back so he was walking on the other side of OlivAI away from Tres, who still had his protective grip on her shoulder. He looked down and gave her as best a sweet smile as he could muster. It did comfort her slightly, if only for a moment.

They entered the massive throne room, and OlivAI already felt intimidated just stepping into it. It was beautiful, but also held a certain sense of...finality, that was probably a good way to put it. This seemed to be where all of the worst and hardest decisions had to be made, and now here she was, another crucial decision to be made...what was going to happen to her?

Caterina went to her throne and sat down; her brother was already awaiting her impatiently in his own. OlivAI, however, looked more at the middle throne where the young Pope was sitting. She couldn't believe he was the leader of the Vatican; he looked like little more than a small child, and she could practically feel the unease coming off of him. He held his scepter in his hands like it was a childhood pacifying item and looked like he wanted to be anywhere but here.

The Cardinal looked like a sharp and unrelenting man, which didn't exactly bring her comfort. Tres gave her shoulder a small squeeze as though to wordlessly comfort her. He could sense the stress and worry that was causing her bodily functions to act erratically.

Perhaps more intimidating were the soldiers from the Inquisition that were also present for this meeting; the man at the front of them and his second-in-command, a woman, looked particularly frightening to her with their hardened gazes. She just wanted to burrow herself into Tres's robe and vanish from sight, but she knew that wasn't possible. Running away or remaining silent was only going to fan the flames.

"Sister, you and your team, along with this alleged Krusnik you have found have been called here to respond to the inquiry that you attempted to hide knowledge of her existence from the remainder of the Vatican," Cardinal Francesco said as he stood from his seat. OlivAI was struck how very much this seemed like an 'us versus them' scenario, with the AX agents standing on one side of the chamber, and the Inquisition soldiers on the other. The tension between the two groups was palpable, almost suffocating.

"The information was not kept from you, brother. We did not know of the girl's origins until very recently as well, and when she was taken by the Rosencruetz Orden we were preoccupied attempting to find out why they had captured her, and how to retrieve her from them."

"Ah yes, that reminds me...I intercepted your scribe attempting to relinquish information from the Book of Ages without permission on my behalf..." he hissed in response to her.

"It was the only way that we might be able to discover why she was created at the time. Our other records from before five centuries ago are gone for the most part. I was not willing to allow my agents to work with nothing," she argued back to him.

Abel couldn't help but lean down and whisper to OlivAI while sweatdropping a bit. "Most of these meetings are yelling between these two...you get used to it..." In all truth, he played it off lightly, but he hadn't yet gotten the opportunity to fully absorb the fact that OlivAI was a Krusnik like him, albeit currently a recessive one. Of course, he had his sister Seth as an ally, but she was the ruler of her own kingdom. It was so strange thinking of OlivAI like that as well, because for so long, he'd thought of their race as just the four of them...

Cardinal Francesco suddenly looked towards the agents. "Krusnik OlivAI, step forward independently. You will answer these questions yourself," he barked at her harshly. Tres was forced to relinquish his protective hold on her, and she meekly stepped forward so that she was in the space between the two groups on the floor. She couldn't help but shake a bit as she stood there, though she did her best to give him a stiff upper lip. She wouldn't let herself cry or break down now of all times. She forced herself to stand up straight, even though her knees felt as though they may buckle out from under her.

"What is your place of origin?"

"Vienna, your Eminence..." she replied softly, though loudly enough to be heard.

"And who is that created you?"

"I do not know, Cardinal Francesco. I believe now that perhaps I was an attempt made by the ancient Vatican to place an artificial being with the four original ones in the project to planet Mars," she replied; she did not inform them that that was what Cain had said to her, knowing that information from him might in turn incriminate her as well. "When I awoke in my cryogenic chamber, I had this on my chest," she said, reaching down into her gown and producing the simple silver crucifix. It shone a bit in the immense light around all of them.

Cardinal Francesco narrowed his eyes at the relic. "How do we know you simply did not find that and are trying to pass it off as some sort of clue as to who created you?"

OlivAI looked at him aghast. "I would never lie about this. I was actually planning to come to the Vatican to find out what it meant when I first woke up..."

"Brother, your duty is to ask questions, not try to dissect all of her answers," Caterina murmured in disgust.

"I will question her as I see fit," the Cardinal growled back at her. "Krusnik, if that is what your purpose truly is, then I must ask...did you go with the terrorist Cain Knightlord willingly?"

OlivAI was too frozen to answer him for a moment. All she could do was remember, how he'd talked to her like she was little more than a possession to him, or a breeding vessel...she closed her eyes and clenched her teeth so tightly that it hurt.

"That is enough!" Caterina shouted at him, standing suddenly. "You know that she was assaulted! How dare you call her integrity into question when she was attacked so heinously!"

"It does not matter, in the end..." the Cardinal replied. "That monster obviously commenced all of this in order to create a child through her, and he has succeeded. None of us are aware of what he plans to do with said child, nor do we know what the child will be born as, being created by two such...inhuman creatures," he hissed. "There stands only one option; she must be placed into captivity until the child is born and we can ascertain its race and power."

OlivAI whimpered and stepped back as the soldiers started to approach her, seeming to take his words as a command.

"You will not! She is not a criminal and cannot be detained like one," Caterina argued back at him.

"Ah, you are right...by the current laws I cannot. But since you were the one who decided you were going to dredge our organization's history out from the bowels of the earth, dear sister, I will have to use that against you," he replied, a faint smirk across his lips. "According to the ancient canon law of the Vatican church, an unwed woman who is with child outside of wedlock will be detained until she is cleansed of her evils and also so the child's soul can be saved. This situation is really not so different, no matter if she was taken by force, or not."

Abel could feel his blood boiling at the Cardinal's words, and he could sense his fellow agents were all feeling quite the same way. Cardinal Francesco was known to fight in unsavory ways in order overwhelm his sister and get his way. The poor Pope looked like he had no idea whose side he was on, he kept looking back and forth between them chaotically.

"That law has not been instituted in centuries upon centuries..." Caterina murmured darkly.

"You're right, but if you're going to argue that you must relegate yourself to desperate measures, then I will play the same card, sister. I will not have this Krusnik and her spawn falling back into enemy hands once more, nor running amok when we do not know her, nor her future child's powers or intentions. It is for her own best interest to be kept in isolation."

"It will only cause her to wither if she is kept imprisoned with little contact, and she is already quite unhealthy..." Caterina shot back at him.

"My intention to use this Canon still stands, Caterina...the girl will be brought into my possession for now until answers can be derived from her."

OlivAI stumbled backwards trying to avoid the soldiers coming towards her, when she felt a familiar arm around her shoulders. She looked up through her tear-clouded eyes to see Tres standing there at her side once more. He could feel her shaking terribly.

"Stand down, Father Tres..." Brother Petros barked at him angrily, holding his weapon in a threatening gesture. Tres looked at the Screamer with a blank expression, however. "You will not interfere with commands from Cardinal Francesco!"

Tres looked coldly at the soldiers, then turned his gaze towards the Cardinal. "If OlivAI is to wed in an immediate fashion, then the Canon will no longer apply to her and her condition. The Canon to which you refer to was written as a condition to force irresponsible betrothals to wed before their children were born, so there would be harmony and unity under the will of God and the Vatican." With that, Tres, looked over to the Pope with his monotone expression still unwavering. "If this is how I must protect her, then so be it. Your Holiness, I ask that you would bless OlivAI and I in holy matrimony to one another. As my bride, she will be released from any potential punishment under the Canon instituted by Cardinal Francesco."

At first, there was a stunned, burdened silence in the air that seemed to be falling down around all of them, like the entire place was caving in around them. Then, there was uproar. Both sides of this argument seemed to be close to coming to blows, with Tres and OlivAI trapped in the middle of it.

"You cannot marry that creature! You are not even human yourself!" Cardinal Francesco snarled at Father Tres. "You are also ordained as a priest, which in itself means you cannot wed!" His soldiers were sneering with disgust at them.

"Negative. As you have just previously stated, I am not human. Thus, I was not required to assume any vows unto myself when I was first ordained into Lady Caterina's agency, including the vow of chastity," he protested evenly. Granted, he'd been allowed to bypass the vows because he did not require monetary gain, nor did he have any want or need for companionship.

"This is ridiculous! You are only doing this to keep her from us," Brother Petros yelled angrily at Tres, causing OlivAI to recoil more against him. Tres held her slightly closer and partially behind himself so that he was sheilding her from the Inquisition soldiers.

"Negative. My intention is to keep her safe from all outside threats, no matter their intention nor alignment."

Lady Caterina was just beyond stunned. Had she heard all of that correctly? Had Tres just asked the Pope to marry him to OlivAI? This was all happening so rapidly that it felt like she couldn't absorb everything occurring right in front of her. All of their arguing wasn't helping much either.

But Tres...Tres was her most loyal soldier. He had served her faithfully ever since she had spared his life after the rebellion had been stopped by Abel. In all that time he had never asked her for anything at all. He had worked to pay his debt to her in full, for saving him from death. He'd never once shown strong emotion around her, nor anyone else she assumed...and yet, this girl. OlivAI. Somehow her presence had changed something in Tres that she couldn't identify.

At the same time, she admired him for realizing that loophole. Tres was versed in all the canons, no matter if they were current or an archaic and archived detail. Her brother, no matter what he fell back on to get his way, could not outthink Tres Iqus.

It seemed like it was coming to a head quickly, however. Both sides looked ready to start a physical confrontation with the other, as the soldiers and agents tossed back curses and insults at one another over what had just taken place. Caterina suddenly stood up, and shouted at the top of her voice.

**"Enough!"**

Her voice echoed heavily throughout the chamber; even her own agents flinched or half-jumped at the power in her tone. Her expression was hardened and she stared down at Tres and OlivAI, before she turned and looked at her brother.

"It matters not if you agree with their timing, their race, nor their intentions. If a marriage is decreed and reciprocated, then your Canon has no bearing any longer," she said to Cardinal Francesco. Her expression softened slightly as she turned back to the two of them. In her heart, she actually pitied them both a bit right now, huddled together in the midst of two clashing forces. It almost reminded her of the old tale of Romeo and Juliet, desperately trapped between opposing sides.

"OlivAI, you have heard Father Tres's proposal...what is your answer to him?" she asked.

OlivAi breathed in sharply, then looked up at Tres. He was looking down at her softly now. He removed his arm from her shoulder and held her hand in both of his.

"We must do this properly in order for it to be considered legitimate..." he said to her, his voice lowered. He suddenly lowered himself down onto one knee before her.

"OlivAI, I kneel before you and the counsel of the Vatican and ask for your hand in marriage," he said to her. The normally intense look in his eyes had dulled ever so slightly.

OlivAI couldn't help but blush faintly. Her feelings for Tres were strong, but she'd always assumed that to him, protecting her was just another mission. They'd spent the last two days in one another's constant company, and she had grown immensely fond of him, and of course, cared deeply for him because of how much he'd done for her. But for him to go this far...could there be more? Her heart threatened to about choke its way out of her throat as she contemplated that possibility, but she swallowed it back down, for now. She did not honestly know as of right now.

She was more than willing to find out, and at the same time prevent the Cardinal from seizing control of both herself and her unborn child.

"I accept," she said with a faint smile, unable to contain herself to keep from wrapping her arms around his neck. Tres closed his eyes a moment and wrapped his own arms around her back, holding her close a moment with his same calm demeanor as always.

There was still arguing going on around them about the validity of this proposal, but OlivAI heard none of it. Instead, she burrowed her head in against his so she could whisper to him privately, shutting out everything that was going on around them.

"You do not need to do this if you do not wish to, Tres...I know that you are doing this to protect me from them, but you shouldn't feel as though you must...I'm sure there is another way we could have avoided this..."

"Negative...this was the only way. But I did not select this course of action based solely on this turn of events..." he said to her. "My desire to protect you has taken precedence over all other current missions OlivAI. I will keep you safe, and there is no more efficient way than this to do so."

"Mm...well, if I had to be forcibly married to anyone right now, I would pick you..." she chided him a bit, though she silently leaned in and pressed a soft, concealed kiss to the middle of his neck. Tres closed his eyes; there it was, again, that warm feeling deep within him. He didn't quite understand what it was, yet, as his processor wasn't adapted to determining emotions and emotional sensations, but...he did know that he enjoyed it. She heard that sound again from deep within him, a low content sound he made when he must have felt relaxed. He craned his neck slightly as she pressed another gentle kiss at the base of his ear. She eventually just rested her head against the base of his neck, and he held her close, also drowning out the chaos going on around them.


	7. Apprehension

(Soul93, thanks again for the reviews! I'm glad you're enjoying the fic so far; hopefully you'll find an equal amount of mushyness and action in this first arc as it continues, I have a good share of it done already but I'm posting it slowly as I go back to refine it a bit. Thanks again though for reading, I appreciate your comments greatly. :) )

"This has all gone downhill very quickly hasn't it...?" Father Havel said to Lady Caterina a bit sheepishly. He normally kept quite serious as she did, especially being closest to her and sharing in her concerns, but the entire situation was so surreal that he had to be a bit amused by it.  
>It was the next morning, and some sunlight was glinting in through the window. It was a calm day outside, an ironic follow-up to the tremulous night that they'd had before.<br>Neither side had been able to settle down, so they'd been forced to dismiss. But Tres and OlivAI were still resolute on seeing this through, and Caterina knew they didn't have much choice now. Not after that display last night.  
>"Downhill isn't a very accurate assessment," she sighed. "My brother is going to use all of this drama as an excuse to undermine me, Father Havel. You and I both know this."<br>"True, though he seems to have a habit of doing that anyways," he admitted. "Aside from that, however...what else could have been done to save OlivAI? We do not even know if she would have survived in your brother's 'care', if we can even dignify calling it that. The Inquisition likely would have deemed her and her child unfit to live and executed them."  
>"There is more than just that; now my brother is demanding that Tres and OlivAI submit 'proof' of their marriage on their wedding night, as they did in ancient times to determine if a bride was unsoiled..." she sighed. Father Havel's jaw went slack. "Obviously she is not, but I believe he is using it as an excuse to prove that the marriage isn't valid because Tres is an android and romance and intimacy are outside what he knows..."<br>"I can't believe he'd go to such extremes with this..." he replied, looking stunned.  
>"Excuse me, Lady Caterina..." Abel said, poking his head into the room and giving her a bashful grin. "I apologize for interrupting, but...I was hoping maybe you would know where I could find OlivAI."<br>"The last that I saw, she was with Father Tres in the dormitory wing," Lady Caterina replied. "You might be hard pressed to get her away from him if you want to speak privately. I know that you two probably have much to talk about, and amongst all of this chaos you haven't had much time to do so."  
>Abel chuckled a bit wearily. "Yes, well, I hope maybe I can let him relinquish her to me for just a little while...thank you Lady Caterina," he said, before he bowed out.<br>Father Havel looked to his mistress as she stared at the entranceway once Father Nightroad had departed. "My Lady...what are we going to do now?" he asked her. He had already weighed in the options, and none of them felt very promising.  
>Lady Caterina stood from her chair, looking down at her desk with a serious gaze. "Well, what I'm going to do now is plan a wedding for the two of them."<br>Father Havel made a questioning sound and raised an eyebrow at her. "My Lady...?"  
>"My brother will not be satisfied with a small ceremony between those two. He will render their marriage illegal unless we make a big show about it. I know how he works after all these years of having been at each other's throat. But...that is not the only reason why I feel I must," she said, looking to Father Havel. She trusted him most with this information, and wanted his opinion. "There are many more aspects to this than saving OlivAI from the Inquisition's wrath. I've already received word from the New Human Empire."<br>Father Havel looked surprised almost immediately. "The Empress contacted you? Directly?"  
>"Yes, through her two ambassadors, Ion Fortuna and Astharoshe Asran. There is little doubt in my mind that word reached her via her brother Abel about OlivAI, but...I cannot hold him accountable for that. Seth and Abel were the only two Krusniks in existence for so long aside from their deranged brother. I can imagine he might have been excited to tell her."<br>"I can understand that as well, but I do not see how it ties in with this entire marriage affair between OlivAI and Father Tres," Father Havel replied.  
>Lady Caterina couldn't help but smile a little as she looked to him. "It reminds me in the old days when the children of different kingdoms would wed to bring peace. Even though OlivAI was only recently awakened and discovered, she now has a strong connection to the Empress."<br>"I see...you're going to use the wedding as a means of negotiating a treaty of alliance to the New Human Empire," Father Havel said.  
>"Indeed. The Empress has never outright wanted war with the Vatican, but there have always been strong tensions between us. They are liberal with whom they allow in their kingdom, whereas we are very conservative. These differing views have led to centuries of distrust between our two kingdoms, even small amounts of conflict and the threats of total warfare. Queen Esther of Albion has already given us an allegiance with her realm, and if we can do the same with the New Human Empire, then we may finally have the union that we need in order to bring down the Rosencruetz Orden and any other enemies we have out there. There will no longer be anywhere else for them to hide in this region, and it will give us a far stronger foothold to fight them in all other countries. The wedding is an excuse to bring the Empress and her ambassadors here to attend, and for the Empress to meet her sister. I'm sure that OlivAI will be overwhelmed quickly though, so I'm going to need help keeping her calm throughout this. We both know we don't have to worry about Father Tres getting flustered, though it might be difficult for him to grasp the significance of all of this. It was already a challenge trying to get him to understand the sort of 'proof' that my brother is going to demand that they've consummated their marriage," she sighed.<br>"And do our two soon to be newlyweds know of any of this, these plans to use their marriage as a catalyst of peace?" he asked her.  
>"No...I did not disclose any of this to either of them," she replied; her tone of voice dropped fairly low. "OlivAI does not need to be consciously involved in this; she has suffered enough confusion and torment, and there is a chance this may not go as I have planned. If that happens I do not want either of them involved."<br>"I see...you don't want them affected if there is a falling out of some sort."  
>"Exactly. I would say, if anything...the two of them deserve only to find happiness in one another. It is all I could ever wish for them. I am going to do my best that they will be safe, and content, and have a marriage and live in one another's company that will hopefully ease the pains of their respective pasts."<br>"My Lady...may I ask one more thing of you?" Father Havel requested.  
>"As you wish," she nodded.<br>"In all the time that he's been an AX agent...I've never once seen Father Tres show any sort of strong emotion, nor any emotional ties to another. Do you...in what you've seen of him, believe that he really does care for OlivAI? Or do you believe that he is doing all of this simply as a means of rational defiance against the Inquisition?"  
>Lady Caterina sighed and closed her eyes. "Father Tres has always been somewhat of an enigma to me...all of these years and he never so much as asked for anything in return for all the good he's done. I know he never did, because of the promise that he made to me, those few years ago in St. Angelo. That is why...I do believe that, yes...he does care for her. He would not have done what he did in the citadel yesterday if he did not."<p>

OlivAI looked around the room with a curious gaze; Tres's room was about as sterile as she'd imagined it would be, since he wasn't one to have any sentimental items. She was sitting with him on his bed, pulled onto his lap as they sat in silence for a short time, just enjoying the temporary peace. His bed was strange; it actually looked vaguely similar to the chamber she'd woken up in.  
>"So this is where you rest when your power is running low?" she asked him.<br>"Positive. When I am in need of recharge, the chamber seals around me and the air within the seal becomes charged to help me reach my full capacity swiftly," he explained levelly.  
>"Would it be safe for me to rest with you in here?" she asked.<br>"Positive; the charged molecules would not affect you," he replied.  
>She nodded a bit and sighed. "So Tres...we've gotten ourselves into a pretty complicated mess here, haven't we?" Tres was silent for a moment. "But...there's no point in dwelling on it for now. We have to go through with this now after that chaos last night."<br>"Positive, there is no purpose in dwelling on past events," he agreed with her.  
>"So, while we have some time alone for a change, now...what do you want to do?" she asked him softly. They'd spent most of those two days in the infirmary simply talking, but now they had a bit more freedom and privacy.<br>"Request: I wish for you to teach me something, OlivAI," he responded. He spoke now with noticable pauses between each declaration. "I was not constructed with the capacity to fully realize nor feel emotions nor affection. Despite this, however, I have found that my physical contact with you triggers certain sensations that are normally found in biological beings. I am not however versed in how to return affection to you. I wish for us to practice basic affection and intimacy with one another so that I may properly reciprocate."  
>OlivAI almost wanted to laugh at how methodically he asked her this, but she couldn't. He was serious and she wanted to believe that he wanted to know this so that their relationship wouldn't be almost completely one-sided after the marriage had been completed. And, to a degree, it did make her happy that he did feel something when they came into physical contact with one another. That did affirm that he had not orchestrated all of this purely as a political tactic.<br>"Well, probably the simplest way is to hold hands," she said, taking his hand in one of hers. "It's not necessarily intimate, but it does give your partner reassurance. Then there is embracing, but you seem to have that one down pretty well..." Tres was almost borderline clingy to her sometimes it felt like.  
>"Positive. I know of the basest forms of contact. I wish to gain more experience in the practice of kissing," he replied.<br>OlivAI's face almost instantly lit up. Tres placed a hand under her chin. "Answer: Are you feeling all right? Your heart beat just accelerated rapidly and your bodily temperature has increased without explanation."  
>"Oh, no, I'm fine, just...a little shy..." she said to him. "I have to admit that I'm...not all that well versed in this either. I've never been in a relationship myself, at least not that I remember. Even having the emotions that a human does, it still isn't something that I know from experience..."<br>"Positive: we will learn together," Tres replied. Before she had time to register it, he'd closed the gap of space between them and pressed his lips to hers.  
>She still couldn't believe how real his skin felt, despite being synthetic. His lips were very soft and warm against hers. She actually could feel herself quivering a bit; the kiss filled her with a deep warmth that started down in her abdomen and seemed to flow upwards, causing her face to blush heavily. Tres felt it himself as well, but to a lesser degree. He rested his hand against her cheek as they pulled apart just slightly.<br>"That is the correct way to commence kissing, correct?" he asked her.  
>"Y-yes..." she said; her cheeks were burning now.<br>"Request: I ask that you would kiss me wherever you wish to," he suddenly said to her.  
>OlivAI about fell backwards off of the bed dramatically at that request; his gentle touch against her face was probably the only thing that prevented that. "You still need to work on your wording Tres..." she whimpered a bit awkwardly, though she couldn't help but chuckle. "But...I know what you're asking. And yes, of course I will."<br>She could remember the content sounds she'd heard when she'd kissed his cheek. Even in that pressing moment that it had happened, she could still remember it. Obviously, it brought him some amount of peace. He obviously wasn't used to requesting anything for himself, however, with how awkwardly he'd asked it.  
>OlivAI leaned in and began kissing along his jawline first, just pressing small soft pecks against him. Tres craned his head a little when she did that, and she moved to kiss down the length of his neck. His skin was very smooth, probably since it was artificial and not subject to the same wear and tear that normal human skin was. She made her small trail of kisses all the way down to his collar bone, however, where the fabric of his priestly robes began.<br>Tres had his eyes closed, and she heard that sound he made again. It almost reminded her a bit of a cat purring when it was content, though she didn't think he'd see the humor in her comparing it to that. She placed a small little kiss against the crook of his neck, underneath the fabric of his cloak, before he suddenly grasped her shoulders and gently stopped her.  
>"I am becoming over-stimulated," he said to her; his tone didn't seem to indicate that, but she could see his cheeks had become reddened faintly with heat.<br>"I'm sorry if I got a bit carried away..." she murmured.  
>"Negative. You did as I requested and it was pleasing. I thank you for it," he replied. "Now, I must reciprocate."<br>OlivAI felt like her embarrassment might swallow her alive, and was about to tell him he didn't have to, but as per the norm he didn't wait for confirmation. Tres gently wrapped his arms around her shoulders, and began to kiss down the length of her jawline and neck, almost flawlessly mimicking what she had done to him.  
>She felt almost as though she'd melt into a puddle though when he did it. He was measured and moved at a methodical pace, but each kiss sent a warm jolt through her body. She eventually released out a small sound somewhere between a whimper and a meek moan before he paused and looked at her.<br>"You are becoming over-stimulated. I will cease and desist," he said, sitting upright again though he left his arms around her shoulders. "Answer: Are you all right?"  
>"I'm j-just fine Tres..." she stuttered a bit, looking up at him with her face still flushed. "That...that felt wonderful..." she said to him softly.<br>"Negative. I still must refine my skill in the act of kissing," he replied, making her chuckle a bit. "There is one more thing I would like to practice."  
>"Mm? What's that?" she asked him curiously.<br>"Request: I will kiss your lips once more, and this time, you must part them for me," he requested flatly.  
>"P-part them...?" she asked, reddening all over again.<br>"Positive, in preparation for our wedding night," he replied.  
>OlivAI could suddenly feel most of her body go cold. Their wedding night...was he implying...<br>She suddenly pushed away from him slightly and slid off of his bed as he followed her with his optics. "Answer: Where are you going? Your body temperature just decreased substantially."  
>"N-no...it's...I just need a little time to think..." she replied. He shifted off of his bed and made to follow her. "N-no, Tres...I need some time to think by myself...all right? I'll be okay for just a short while by myself. I'll be back in just a little bit, okay?" she said; she knew that he would protest, so she continued until she thought he might grasp what she was trying to say.<br>Tres was quiet for a few seconds, before he paused. "Request archived. You may take some private time for yourself. Please do not stray away from Lady Caterina's agents, OlivAI. You must always be supervised."  
>"Thank you, Tres...I'll make sure of that," she said, before she slipped out the door and went outside.<p> 


	8. Contentment

She rubbed her upper arms a bit as she walked outdoors. It was cold and crisp outside, and as she walked she saw a few snowflakes fall from the gray sky overhead. They were on the verge of their long winter once more it seemed.  
>Inwardly, she felt horrible for just walking off on him like that. She could tell he was probably confused, even if he didn't show or say it. But she hadn't thought about what was going to happen after the wedding ceremony was over. Did he...would he want her to consummate with him?<br>It wasn't exactly a question she felt she could ask him without making things awkward. But she didn't have much time to think before she was interrupted from her thoughts as Abel came up to her.  
>"Ah, there you are! I was starting to wonder if I'd be able to catch you at some point..." he said to her kindly, giving her his seemingly trademark sweet smile. It was hard to believe looking at him up close that he could be related to Cain Knightlord, but the physical resemblance was quite noticeable.<br>"Oh, Father Nightroad..." she said, looking at him quietly. "I'm so sorry I haven't found the time to speak with you as of yet..."  
>"No apologies needed OlivAI, I know how these last couple weeks have been for you," he said to her gently. "I did want to touch base with you as soon as I could, in case you wanted to ask me anything. Also you don't need to call me Father…Abel works just fine," he chuckled.<br>"You mean, ask anything about the Krusnik?" she replied; he gave her a slightly wry smile as an affirmative. "To be honest, so far, I haven't felt any different...but then, the Professor said that the DNA may be latent temporarily and emerge when it seems fit to do so, or may take some time to incorporate itself into my genetics."  
>"Yes, he told me all the same. I just wanted to warn you to be cautious is all. The first time that I took on my Krusnik form, it was very horrifying for me. I just want to do what I can to prevent that for you."<br>"Maybe you can answer a couple questions for me about it, then...to help put my mind at ease about it," she said as they took a pleasant little stroll through the calm and quiet snowfall.  
>"Of course, you can feel free to ask me anything you'd like."<br>"Now that you have the Krusnik aspect of yourself under control, how do you summon it?" she asked. "For the future, once it does decide to show itself to me."  
>"Well, the Krusnik DNA is actually stored and activated by small nanomachines that live harmlessly in our bloodstream. Whenever I want to take on that form during battle, all I have to say is "Nanomachines" in order to signal to them that I wish to transform. Then I state my Krusnik number, 02, and state the power output that I want, and the nanomachines confirm and trigger it."<br>"Power output?"  
>"Well the Krusnik is a very...tempermental sort of ability, OlivAI. It will grant you immense power once you've mastered it, but in return for using it, it will sap at your mental state over time...that...that is why Cain has become such a monster. When my siblings and I were in space, my sister Seth accidentally injected him with too much of it. It merged with his body and mind completely. He immediately was overwhelmed by it...the Krusnik destroyed his memories, his personality...everything about himself."<br>"Yes, he told me that, while I was in his custody..." OlivAI said lowly.  
>"Cain was never completely stable even before the Krusnik overtook him though, OlivAI. Even if he injected you with the same pure form of the genetic material that he was given, I believe that it will not affect you mentally as it did him, especially if it hasn't yet surfaced."<br>She nodded, feeling relieved to hear that. He'd almost seemed to sense what she was worrying about.  
>"Did you have another question for me?" he asked as they paused to sit at the edge of the fountain outside the dormitories. It was still flowing freely even with the cold weather.<br>"Just one more for now. You've mentioned a sister...Seth? Will I be able to meet her sometime?" she asked him.  
>"Oh...oh yes, very soon..." he said sheepishly. "I'm afraid Lady Caterina may have my head soon enough, but...I informed my sister of your appearence very recently. Seth has been plagued over the years by the loss of Lillith, the fourth Krusnik, you see...she and I were very close to Lillith, even during times when we were not allied to one another. You should have heard though how happy she was to hear she had a new sister to come and see."<br>"A new sister?" OlivAI echoed him.  
>"Of course. You are a Krusnik now, even if it hasn't revealed itself yet. You are a part of our family, as far as she and I are concerned."<br>OlivAI almost felt overwhelmed, but in a good way. She had spent those first two weeks feeling alone aside from her ties to Tres. To suddenly be accepted by so many and cared for so deeply by one, it was almost overwhelming after such solitude. She grinned to him however.  
>"I'm excited to meet her."<br>"Oh I can already tell you two will get alone. You have that same mischievous glint in your eye that she has nearly all the time."  
>"I get the sense that she used to torment you a bit Abel..."<br>Abel laughed a bit wildly. "Oh yes, terribly so...but that is what little sisters do. I'm sure she'll adore you though, just wait and see. She'll be getting here soon enough to attend your wedding to Father Tres."  
>OlivAI paused, and frowned again. "I see..."<br>Abel looked at her with a faintly serious expression when her demeanor shifted. "That doesn't seem like the reaction I'd expect of a happy bride-to-be. Your wedding's in only two days after all."  
>"I'm just...a bit nervous, about all of this, not just getting married," she admitted, tucking her knees into herself as she sat down on the edge of the frozen fountain. "It feels like so much has happened and so quickly."<br>"Yes, well...that seems to happen a lot here. You may have heard the expression even in the distant past, "when it rains it pours." I've found that that statement is immensely true."  
>She did grin faintly at that.<br>"There's a smile. You should smile more often, OlivAI. It suits you much more than gloom," he said, rubbing the top of her head affectionately. She did give him an innocent smile in response to the gesture.  
>They were suddenly interrupted by a shout from ahead of them. "Better not let Gunslinger catch you touching his bride or he'll shoot you a new arsehole Nightroad!" Father Leon chided him playfully.<br>Abel stuttered a bit awkwardly. "I can't believe you'd insinuate that I'd touch her in any sort of inappropriate way, I would never...and she's my sister! Well...sort of...but…but still!"  
>OlivAI just started to laugh a bit into her arms as Abel mumbled shyly and Father Leon smirked and grinded his fist into the top of Abel's head to torment him more.<br>"I don't suppose Lady Caterina has given you the good news as of yet has she, Father Nightroad?" the Professor asked him as Father Leon continued his antics.  
>"Hmm? What good news?"<br>"Queen Esther of Albion will also be attending the upcoming wedding here in the Vatican. She was already planning a visit soon but decided to come early to attend," the Professor replied.  
>Abel's expression softened almost instantly, and he stuttered a bit, a touch of rosiness coming across his pale cheeks. "E-Esther is going to be here...?" he asked. OlivAI could hear the immediate change in his voice.<br>"Is Esther a friend of yours?" she asked to his side, grinning at him.  
>"Yes...she is a very dear friend of mine...but I haven't gotten to see her ever since she ascended the throne of Albion..." Abel replied.<br>"Give the girl a bit of slack, she's been busy getting the Ghetto deconstructed now that the vampires are permitted to live on the surface amongst the humans," the Professor replied, turning to OlivAI to explain. "It's taken a lot of work, but she managed to calm a political turmoil that would have reduced most rulers to their knees in defeat, and quite easily could have destroyed the entire kingdom. But Esther was very dedicated to creating peace and tranquility even when she worked as an AX agent," the Professor explained.  
>"And we think that Father Nightroad took a right fancy to her too," Father Leon said with a devious little smirk as he continued to hold Abel in a humiliating headlock. Abel about looked ready to rupture with the redness that overtook him as both the other priests turned to head back inside.<br>"Wa-wait! You can't inform me of something like that and just walk away!" Abel cried out. "You also didn't tell me when she was getting hereeeee!" he squealed demandingly.  
>OlivAI watched Abel depart after Father Leon and the Professor like a small child would, and couldn't help chuckle a bit despite her solemn mood. He seemed so very sweet and innocent himself, and she already liked him enormously. She couldn't wait to learn more about him, though she felt it would have to come over time, with everything happening.<br>Her talk with Abel had eased some of her worries about the inevitable, when the Krusnik DNA would eventually reveal itself. She knew it was pointless to worry about when it would emerge. But her other fear was still nagging her, and she knew that simply walking away from it wouldn't solve anything.  
>She went back upstairs to Tres's room. He was still inside, sitting and waiting for her quietly. He raised his gaze slightly to look at her when she entered.<br>He seemed like he was about to speak, but she simply walked over to him and embraced him tightly, burying her face against his chest. Tres wordlessly wrapped his arms around her.  
>"Answer: Is everything all right, OlivAI? If you are apprehensive, perhaps I can alleviate some of your concerns."<br>OlivAI pulled back slightly so she could look at him. "I...I suppose I just wasn't ready yet to think about...about what's going to happen after the ceremony is done..."  
>"Positive. It is understandable for you to be nervous. Your only experience of intimacy was when you were assaulted," he said, and she winced a bit, but he placed his hands on her shoulders and gave her that same, even more intense look when he was saying something he wanted her to know. "Because the ancient canon was called upon, there is no other option. Proof of our consummation must be provided to the Vatican."<br>"I thought that providing proof of consummating one's marriage was only done when you were of nobility, or royalty, to prove that the bride was a virgin..." she said quietly, if she was remembering correctly. She didn't even truly know where any of her knowledge came from, considering she had no clear memories of her time before being entombed in that chamber. But there it was. Considering the Cardinal had called them both "inhuman creatures," it seemed all the more like a ludicrous demand.  
>"Positive, but the circumstances of our marriage require it, even if your virginity has already been compromised. If it is not provided, then Cardinal Francesco can nullify our union and take custody of you and your future child," Tres said. "There is nothing that I can do to remove their demand. It is their belief that we must immediately claim one another in intimacy because I am engendered physically as a male, and am required to take you as such."<br>"And...I shudder to ask, but how will they 'verify' it?" she asked.  
>"By the presence of your vaginal fluids on our bedsheets," he replied evenly.<br>OlivAI looked saddened, and worried, and maybe a tad bit disgusted. Tres cupped her chin once more. "OlivAI. I care for you, even if I lack the capability and emotion to truly convey it currently. You are aware that I would never harm you."  
>"Of course I know you'd never do that," she said softly.<br>"Then you must trust me. There are many things in this world that I do not have broad knowledge of, but I will be certain that our wedding night will bring you only happiness. Answer: do you understand?"  
>"Y-yes..." she nodded, though he could easily tell by her demeanor and racing pulse that she was still not all right.<br>Tres suddenly embraced her and held her close. "Negative. You understand, but you are not calm. It will be all right. You must believe me, and trust me," he assured her, closing his eyes.  
>OlivAI burrowed her face in against his shoulder, just enjoying the close contact with him. His whole body exuded a lot of warmth, and it felt nice after how cold it had been outside.<br>"I must make another request of you OlivAI..." he said, moving her slightly so he could look down at her directly. She noticed by now that he seemed to always want to make eye contact with her whenever he needed to tell her something important. "Until our wedding is commenced, and even afterwards, I request that you do your best to avoid the soldiers of the Inquisition at all costs. I will be with you as often as possible, but there is still the potential they will try to find you while you are alone."  
>"You think that they would harm me?" she asked.<br>"Negative. Harming you would create war between Lady Caterina and Cardinal Francesco. But they may try to hide you from myself and the others of the AX agency in order to take possession of you, delaying the wedding that will void Cardinal Francesco's active canon. Brother Petros' loyalty is to the Pope; he is the only one I would trust if there is no other option. His soldiers, however, cannot be. None of them. Answer: Do you understand?"  
>"I do..." she nodded, though his seriousness regarding that made some of her apprehension return.<br>"There is no need for fear. I will not allow them to tamper with what we have planned."  
>"I trust you, Tres," she said softly.<br>"Positive...and I trust you as well," he replied.  
>She smiled and pulled back slightly, tilting her head as she looked up at him. "Now that I'm feeling a bit calmer, do you still want to practice that kissing again?" she asked him sweetly.<br>"Positive," he replied. "Please part your lips for me, OlivAI...but tell me if it you begin to feel uncomfortable."  
>"Don't worry Tres...I trust you, remember?" she said, smiling to him innocently.<br>He nodded, and lowered his face down towards hers, pressing his lips against hers. This time, it felt a little less methodical than before; there almost seemed to be a small sense of longing behind his kiss. She did as he wanted, however, and parted her mouth slightly as he kissed her.  
>She squeaked a little bit with surprise when she felt him suddenly slide his tongue into her mouth, though she allowed him to continue. It felt awkward for her at first, but she slowly started to enjoy the sensation as he glided his tongue along the length of hers sensually. He had a firm hold around her body so she was pressed against him, and she rested her hands against his shoulders as he kissed her deeply for a moment.<br>Eventually he stopped, and OlivAI swore she heard him let out a faint sound as though he had been respirating heavily. She knew he didn't require oxygen to survive, but from what he had explained to her during their time together, he took in oxygen and carbon dioxide from around him in order to convert the particles into additional energy. So it wasn't impossible for him to pant a bit if he was a little overwhelmed, although it would be almost unnoticeable.  
>"We must cease. We are both becoming over-stimulated again," Tres said to her softly.<br>"Well, in a couple of nights we won't have to worry about that any longer, right?" she said to him shyly.  
>"Positive. For now, let us rest together OlivAI," he said, shifting so that he laid down onto his bed on his back, and brought her down with him. Once they were lying flat, the particle field that sealed in the charged molecules for him to restore power switched on. OlivAI reached up and touched it; her hand went right through it. It was not opaque, or solid, which meant that she could depart if she needed to. It was also a calming sapphire hue that actually made her feel relaxed.<br>"Request: Rest for now OlivAI. My sensors indicate that you are weary as well," Tres said to her as he laid beneath her with his eyes closed. "Recharge mode engaged," he murmured, before she could hear his systems shutting down.  
>She consented and laid down on top of him, resting the side of her face against his chest. He had laid an arm around her so that his cloak would act as a blanket for her, and she fell asleep almost instantly.<p> 


	9. Falsum Frater

OlivAI slept for a couple hours, and yawned a bit, feeling quite a bit better with some sleep under her belt. She looked up to see that Tres was still recharging. As she woke herself up, she did remember something else that she had wanted to ask Abel about earlier. She figured it wouldn't hurt to go and see if he'd come back to the courtyard while Tres was finishing up his rest.  
>She placed a small kiss on the bridge of his nose and then stood up. She was still wearing the slightly ratty white dress from the night before and decided to get changed. However, Tres only seemed to have clean priest robes in his room. Still, it was all that she had to work with. It was a shame she was so short, she was practically swimming in his garments, though it wasn't so bad when she gently removed the emblems and ornamentations from them. His pants hung down far below her feet, so she rolled them up gently to not damage them since they weren't hers, along with the internal sleeves of the jacket. She thought about not wearing the overcoat, but it was so cold outside she knew she'd probably regret it, even though while she wore it her arms were completely hidden inside of it even when extended at her sides. She strapped one of his belts on as tightly as it would go to help her keep pants up, and slipped on the black flat-soled shoes she'd been given to wear from the infirmary. She quickly combed her hair back into a loose braid once more, and then headed outside. She left her personal crucifix on, allowing it to hang outside of the overcoat.<br>It was colder outside now that it had been earlier and she pressed her mouth and nose into the fabric to keep from catching a cold. The courtyard was also quiet now; she couldn't hear the voices of any of the Fathers present any longer. She decided she'd do a quick lap around it to see if anyone was around before heading back inside. The silence of the now slightly heavier snow made her feel uneasy for some reason. She wasn't sure what it was that was making her nervous, since she was barely outside of the dormitories, but she decided that it was futile to look now and that she'd try to find Abel later with Tres escorting her.  
>She turned to head back to his room, increasing her pace along the snow, trying to keep fixated on getting back. That was when she spotted a figure out of the corner of her eye, and paused. The being wasn't moving, but was watching her intently, it seemed. She turned a bit, unable to keep from shaking a slight amount.<br>It was a member of the Inquisition, and he started to approach her. There was something about his footsteps...they were unnaturally heavy, even for the man's stature. He was wearing some armor that rattled faintly as he moved, along with a mostly-black uniform, and she felt herself instinctively taking a few steps back away from him. The snow had muddled his appearence from her until he came closer. He had spikey brown hair and seemed to be wearing an identifying device over his left eye. He also had intense brown eyes, so similar to...  
>OlivAI froze when she realized why she felt so uneasy looking at him.<br>"Identified: OlivAI. Alias Krusnik 05," the soldier said to her. His voice was lower than Tres's, but still was spoken in that same monotonous tone. OlivAI was like a statue standing in front of him as he halted a mere couple feet before her. If Tres had made her feel small before, this soldier made her feel like an insect that he could easily crush underfoot if he so desired to.  
>Probably the aspect of him that made her the most fearful, however, was that unlike Tres, he looked like his default expression was a very faint, but all too merciless smirk. It was so small that maybe she was just imagining it, but it terrified her nonetheless. She suddenly found it hard to breathe as she felt hers chest tightening with panic.<br>"Until our wedding is commenced, and even afterwards, I request that you do your best to avoid the soldiers of the Inquisition at all costs. I will be with you as often as possible, but there is still the potential they will try to find you while you are alone."  
>But how had he known where she would be? Had he been waiting outside all this time, to see if she'd come out all alone?<br>"Declare your purpose within the courtyard boundaries without escort," the soldier demanded of her darkly.  
>OlivAI, however, felt like she was choking and couldn't speak. The android continued to stare her down, and she felt like his wicked expression alone would be enough to grind her into the stone below her feet.<br>"Silence is not an accepted response. Answer or you will face immediate detention," the soldier once again demanded; this time she swore his voice took on a stronger tone to it, though it remained just as level and concise as before.  
>"I...I...I just came...outside to see if Father Nightroad was around still..." she said softly. She could barely even hear herself, but he seemed to. His eyes narrowed in on her. There was a certain predatory gleam in them that truly terrified her.<br>"Reason for unsupervised movement is not valid; escort is not present. You are now within the custody of the Department of Inquisition," the soldier proclaimed. When he reached out to grasp her arm, however, she dodged to the side and immediately tried to run from him.  
>She froze, however, when she heard the menacing sounds of a gun's safety being removed. She shook as she turned, only to find a crimson bead of light shining directly in the center of her forehead.<br>"Failure to comply is immediate grounds for execution, Krusnik," he said to her as he started to approach her, his heavy footsteps crushing the snow and ice underfoot. "If you have anything additional to declare, then do so now."  
>"I...I have a question..." she said, her voice shaking so badly that she almost sounded like she was speaking in tongues at this point. She already knew the answer as well, but she couldn't quite grasp it until she heard it herself. "Are...are you an android like Tres Iqus...?"<br>The soldier paused, looking down at her coldly as he kept his firearm trained on the area between her eyes.  
>"Affirmative. I am Brother Bartholomew, once known as Duo Iqus," he replied. Standing this close to her she could now see the wires and cables that extended out of his armor and hooked into the back of his head. She swore that that tiny, almost insignificant smirk on his face increased slightly. "Brother to Tres Iqus."<br>She gasped a bit, and staggered back slightly despite herself. Her eyes narrowed a bit. "Brother or not, I can tell you are nothing like Tres..." she spat at him, even though her inner thoughts were telling her not to spite him.  
>"Affirmative. My brother is a damaged unit, spared death only due to pity," Brother Bartholomew said. How he could sound so mocking while keeping that same level tone astonished her. "Answer. You are to marry him in two days if not detained. How can one with emotions and feelings possibly find a suitable spouse in someone with no feelings at all?"<br>Was...was he taunting her and Tres? She suddenly felt a strange anger welling up inside of her that seemed...alien, though she for now repressed it. "Your brother is not damaged, and unlike you, he does have emotions underneath his programming."  
>"Negative. Androids are incapable of feeling," Brother Bartholomew replied. He suddenly fired his firearm, though he purposely aimed it slightly to the side so that the bullet only grazed her scalp. She yelped with pain, grasping her temple as a few droplets of blood slowly started to drip down from the injury, followed by a heavier blood flow.<br>"Tch...shows what you know, Brother Bartholomew..." she replied defiantly. This did not seem to please him. His faint smirk melted quickly into a very grim frown as he stepped closer to her again. His hand suddenly reached out and grabbed her chin painfully in his grasp, pressing his thumb into the soft flesh of her cheek so that she winced with anguish. It felt like he was trying to crush her jaw, and she knew he could very easily do so.  
>"You forget your place, Krusnik. Until you are wed, you are a prisoner. And since you have escaped your prison, I will take you to another from which you cannot escape..." he said down to her. There was an aggressive undertone in his voice, like he lusted for her blood, and had found his excuse to shed it. She was certain, too, that he was no longer referring to being detained by the Inquisition, but by him. Even as she thought this, his thumb touched the end of the trickle of blood streaming down her face, coating his appendage in it. He smeared it purposely against her flesh in a falsely gentle motion.<br>He was suddenly halted, however, when a sharp voice suddenly shouted at them from aside. "Brother Bartholomew, release her at once."  
>Brother Petros was standing there, looking incredibly cross, which seemed to be the norm for him. "I told you to patrol for any potential threats."<br>"She is outside unescorted, thus breaking her contract of amnesty until she is wed," Brother Bartholomew replied, though he consented in letting go of her. She winced as she rubbed her now quite sore jaw.  
>"That is indeed something that requires further explanation, but we do not use callous violence to intimidate within this proximity to his Holiness," Brother Petros replied; they were only around a hundred yards from the entrance to the citadel. Between the two of them, she far trusted Petros right now, so she drew closer to him when he approached to reprimand the android.<br>"OlivAI! There you are..." Abel called out as he hastily ran to her side, out of breath from trying to get to them swiftly. OlivAI looked back, and saw that Tres was just behind him...but he had stopped short.  
>Tres instead was staring directly ahead, right at Brother Bartholomew, who returned his gaze. The tension that seemed to surface between the two of them was immense, and awful at the same time. She'd never seen Tres truly angry before, but this was about as close as it got she assumed. His features suddenly contorted so that he seemed to be trying to will Brother Bartholomew to spontaneously combust. His brother, however, stared back with that same ever so vague smirk on his face.<br>"I'm sorry about the confusion, I asked OlivAI to meet me out here and ended up getting caught up in a meeting with Lady Caterina..." Abel managed to get out.  
>Brother Petros looked at him as though he didn't believe a word that he said, but sighed. "Make sure that you watch your movements and hers alike, Father Nightroad. Bear in mind that no matter what political tides may turn in the next few days, God will deem if she is truly to be spared interrogation of her origins," Brother Petros snapped at him, though that seemed to be the end of his tirade as he turned to depart.<br>Brother Bartholomew, however, lingered behind him a moment. He glimpsed back down at OlivAI once more, narrowing his eyes slightly, then looked back at Tres. His small smirk seemed to increase slightly once more as he suddenly raised his thumb to his mouth, and licked her blood from the fabric of his glove without breaking eye contact with Tres. OlivAI cringed in disgust, but he turned and departed from them silently, following Brother Petros back towards the citadel.  
>Abel released a long, dramatic sigh of relief once they were out of sight. "That was far too close..." he murmured, his own voice shuddering a bit. "OlivAI, what were you doing out here by yourself? Cardinal Francesco has his soldiers looking for any opportunity to imprison you..."<br>"I know, I'm so sorry..." she murmured. "I just was hoping to find you once more. I was only out here for a moment, and then...I started to feel uneasy so I started to head back towards the dormitories and...and he cornered me..."  
>She suddenly gasped, and turned back to Tres. He was still staring off angrily into the distance where Brother Bartholomew had disappeared, as though he was having difficult processing the anger he felt right now. "Tres, I...I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to-"<br>Tres, however, suddenly turned from her aggressively and headed back towards the dormitories in silence. OlivAI watched him depart, and the anger that had arisen in her when Brother Bartholomew had spoken to her so callously was replaced almost immediately by a deep sadness, and regret.  
>"Don't worry, Tres will be back to his normal self soon, just give him a bit of time to calm down," Abel said to her, resting a hand on her shoulder. "You've stirred up a bit more trouble I'm afraid, though..."<br>"I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to..."  
>"I know. It's not fair that you're subject to this kind of tyrannical behavior, OlivAI. You shouldn't be required to be supervised at all times, but we have to make due with these conditions until after your marriage..." He watched as Tres entered into the dormitories, though the door closed gently behind him. He seemed to be beyond any sort of immature rampage.<br>"Brother Bartholomew, he...he's..."  
>"Yes, he is Tres's brother...and you can probably see now just how fond they are of one another..." Abel sighed. "I was sent to destroy the Killing Dolls when Dr. Garibaldi unleashed them in his rebellion, but Tres was spared death by Lady Caterina so long as he promised to be loyal to only her. The only other one that survived was his brother, Duo Iqus. He was heavily damaged, but the Inquisition found him before we did and repaired him, and programmed him to be an efficient assassin. Though they are both androids, their personalities couldn't be more different from one another. Tres has shown he is capable of some emotion, humor and connection with others...but Brother Bartholomew has made his cruel intentions known in the way that he enjoys murdering and torturing anything he can. He is little more than a sadistic killing machine. And he has made it a sort of personal vendetta to ignite Tres's anger whenever he can, as though he is proving that Tres is no better than he is."<br>"In a way...the two of them remind me a bit of you and Cain..." she said softly, closing her eyes.  
>"I suppose that is a good comparison..." he sighed. "Here, I'll walk you back to Tres's room. I would just give him some space if he still seems cranky when you get there..." he said, taking her hand to guide her along. When they arrived back to the doorway into his chambers, Abel bid her ado and left.<br>OlivAI swallowed a bit apprehensively as she opened the door. The room was pitch black, but she could see Tres's shadowed form standing at his window, looking outside silently as the snow was starting to fall very heavily now. OlivAI stepped into the room and closed the door behind her.  
>She wanted so badly to rush forward and embrace him, try somehow to ease his anger and his pain, but she knew to do so would be foolish right now. If he wanted her comfort, he would ask for it. That was just how he was. So instead, she went to his bed and sat down on it, and remained silent, giving him some time and space to himself.<br>It felt like an eternity passed before Tres finally stepped away from the window, and walked across the room. He stood at the foot of the bed, facing towards the doorway, almost as though he didn't realize she was there at first. He still looked apathetic, as always...but she knew that inside, he was probably enraged still.  
>She decided she couldn't take this quiet any longer and decided to speak. "Tres...I...I'm so sorry for breaking my promise...I didn't believe that only being outside for such a short amount of time could have caused that to happen. I should have listened to you, I was foolish to think that they wouldn't be monitoring me..." she said to him quietly. He didn't respond. "But...I have to admit, I do feel a bit...confused as to why you did not tell me about Brother Bartholomew...I can see clearly now that you were warning me primarily about him. Is that the truth?"<br>Tres was silent for another moment, before he turned to look at her. "Positive. The risk of you being discovered by Brother Bartholomew was too great, thus I did not want you to travel by yourself."  
>"Why didn't you tell me about him before?"<br>Tres narrowed his eyes slightly. "Because he is dangerous. I did not want to frighten you further. You have been giving off highly stressed readings 87% of the time I have been present with you. I did not want to cause further strain."  
>"I see..." she hung her head slightly. "I really am sorry, Tres...I only seem to cause trouble no matter where I go, it seems..."<br>"Negative...there is no need for apologies. My temper did not flare with regards to you; it was directed at Brother Bartholomew."  
>"He was very frightening..." she said softly.<br>"Positive. His programming as a Killing Doll is still mostly in tact," Tres replied.  
>"Well, I'm at least glad that you are not cross with me...the last thing that I'd want is for you to be angry at me, Tres."<br>"Negative. I am merely concerned for your safety first and foremost. I must inform you of something however," he replied. "Tomorrow I must accompany Lady Caterina in meeting with Queen Esther of Albion; therefore, I will be leaving you in the custody of Father Nightroad and Father Leon for the time being."  
>"Well, I suppose that works out nicely since Abel was wanting to spend some time with me," OlivAI replied. "I think that he wants to tell me more about being a Krusnik, and...maybe I can get him to open up a bit more about his past. It might help me understand more about why Cain did all of this."<br>"Positive. Father Nightroad is the best source of information on those matters," Tres confirmed. "For now, I will accompany you to the dining hall so that you may nourish yourself. I am detecting that several essential vitamins are very low in your bloodstream."  
>OlivAI chuckled a bit. "Your sensors can tell a lot about someone can't they?"<br>"Positive. Though my primary function is protecting Lady Caterina and her staff, I am also programmed to know when someone is in need of all forms of medical attention."  
>"Well, at least that means that I never have to guess if I have a cold or flu coming on again..." she chuckled, holding out her hand to take his almost instinctively now.<p> 


End file.
